BIRDS OF THE SHORES AND 

 ^lUD-FLATS 



The long, narrow point of land stretches far into 

 the North Sea. It is for the most part a series of 

 dunes with smooth, sandy hollows, fringed and 

 partly overgrown by stiff, wind-beaten bent-grass. 

 On the one side the salt waves beat on the shingle, 

 and on the other the dull broad expanse of the river 

 extends to the dimlv-seen Lincolnshire coast. As 

 the tide falls the river withdraws to its channel, and 

 the vast mud-flats lie exposed, their dead grey 

 monotony broken here and there by gleams of light 

 w^here the water still rests in the depressions. Birds 

 migrating from the Norway littoral find in this 

 narrow isthmus their first resting-place, and here, 

 in the autumn and winter months, great numbers of 

 the wader clan may be seen following the line of 

 the tide, or running hither and thither as they seek 

 the small marine creatures upon which they feed. 



At first sight, and in the distance, the birds which 

 compose the flocks appear almost alike, save that 

 here and there the form of a Curlew or A\"himbrel 

 stands conspicuously large as compared with the 

 lesser races. But on closer examination it is seen 

 that although they are mostly small snipe-like birds, 

 with sharply-pointed wings and long slender bills, 



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