PLOVERS 25 



any luck." Those that are found, as a rule, are 

 met with accidentally in the course of ordinary 

 rambles. 



A long- line of beach runs sloping down to the 

 tide ; above high-water mark straggling posts show, 

 some with fish-baskets on the top of them. These are 

 fishing guides ; one or two slope very much, which 

 has been caused by the play of the wind on the old 

 baskets, and the wasting away of the sand they had 

 been placed in, for on some fore-shores sands are 

 continually shifting more or less. Just beyond the 

 old posts a rough track runs, dotted with stunted 

 furze-bushes, which are nibbled down closely by 

 the rabbits ; then comes some coarse, broken ground, 

 and the Downs lie beyond. The spot indicated was 

 even in summer-time a very lonely one ; no one 

 passed there unless business matters compelled them 

 to do so, for the rough track ran, as the few people 

 scattered about there said, to nowhere ; that is, to 

 where no houses could be seen. I have been there 

 for hours without hearing any other sounds besides 

 the lap of the waves on the beach below, and the 

 piping of Ring Dotterels. 



That this smart active creature should have been 

 a favourite with lonely coast-dwellers was not to be 

 wondered at ; so very isolated were some of them 

 that they had to row for a distance of five miles in 

 their boats to fill their fresh-water barrels. I have 

 seen them come many times to the mouth of a gen- 

 erous spring of coolest and sparkling fresh water 

 that emptied itself direct into the tide. Before 



