300 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



ever all along the coast. The best time to see these 

 birds is in the evening, when they have been feeding 

 all day on the marshes, and are as full of small crabs 

 and carrion cast up by the sea as the geese are of corn, 

 and when they have an hour before going to roost to 

 spend in play. 



One evening I was greatly entertained by their per- 

 formance, when the tide was out, leaving a wide stretch 

 of mud at the mouth of the river or small estuary 

 which serves Wells as harbour; and here some sixty 

 or seventy birds had gathered to amuse themselves 

 before going to roost. Here would be a bird looking 

 for something to eat, and when he found a small crab 

 or other morsel he would make a great to-do about it, 

 and hold it up as a challenge to others; then his next 

 neighbour would set upon him and there would be a 

 sham-fight, and the crab would be captured and carried 

 triumphantly away, only to be used as a challenge to 

 others. This was but one of a dozen different forms 

 of play they were indulging in, and while this play on 

 the ground went on, at intervals of a few seconds a 

 bird would shoot straight up into the air to a height 

 of eighteen or twenty feet, then, turning over, tumble 

 straight down to the ground again. To drop vertically 

 down seemed to be the aim of every bird, but with a 

 wind blowing they found it a somewhat difficult feat, 

 and would wriggle and flutter and twist their wings 

 about in various ways to save themselves from being 

 blown to one side. At longer intervals a bird would 

 shoot up to a height of forty to sixty feet, going up 



