184 Wii,d Birds and their Haunts 



through the flats at low tide the ducks will be found during 

 bad weather in incredible numbers sporting and drinking, 

 or else dead asleep in the vicinity of such quarters. But 

 ducks are hardy fowl, and little shelter will suffice for 

 them ; thus it is only at places where the tide recedes far 

 out from the mainland that ducks may be met with avail- 

 ing themselves of such conditions. The sea ducks feed 

 day and night, according to tide times and conditions of 

 the weather. 



Shore birds — i.e., those of the wader tribe — are very 

 regular in their habits in winter. As the tide flows and 

 so covers their feeding-grounds, shore birds of the com- 

 moner kinds, such as curlew, plover, godwit, redshank, 

 knot, and dunlin wing in small parties higher up the 

 estuaries or along the coast to places where sandbars, 

 salting edges, or islands are to be found, and on which 

 they may rest until the tide recedes. Their chief feeding- 

 times are governed by the tides ; thus it is compulsory for 

 them to seek their food both day and night. 



They feed most greedily between half -ebb and ebb tide, 

 but when high spring tides are running, which keep their 

 grounds covered so long with water, they become anxious 

 to feed as soon as the tide has left bare the first tract of 

 feeding ground. In autumn, when high tides occur and 

 no resting-ground on the shore is left bare at top tide, 

 the shore birds will often resort to large pastures, fallow 

 fields, and such places inland. If disturbed, they then 

 take wing to sea, where they will fly for hours together 

 until the tide again ebbs. 



Shore birds of the larger and more worthy kind, such 

 as curlew and godwit, when much persecuted become 

 exceedingly wary, and fly hign when crossing what they 

 know to be dangerous spots ; but in the usual course of 

 things these birds, if unmolested, make their daily tidal 

 flights at no great height. Flying against a strong wind; 

 they merely skim the ground, only rising a little to take 

 the banks. 



