The Audubon Societies 283 



the observer if he follows out its daily routine from feeding-area to nesting- 

 area, and discovers where its associates are, what food it selects, what enemies 

 it avoids, and what friends it makes! A diagram of the ordinary activities of 

 animals found on the sand spit devised by an instructor in marine ecology is 

 well termed 'The Whirlpool,' for the relationship of the plants and animals 

 of the different zones found there is so intricate as to suggest not only a cease- 

 less intermingling of life, but also an interdependence beautifully adjusted to 

 the requirements of each individual organism. 



Make a beginning this school-year by calling for lectures of scholarly 

 grade, bird- and nature-study books of wide and truthful outlook and, above 

 all, help teachers in every possible way to attain the highest standards by 

 the best means. — A. H. W. 



JUNIOR AUDUBON WORK 



For Teachers and Pupils 



Exercise XXXV: Correlated with Etymology, Mechanical Drawing 



and Observation 



THE SAND SPIT 



[Note. — The data for this study have been taken in part from a paper, entitled 

 'The Animal Ecology of the Cold Spring Sand Spit,' by Dr. C. B. Davenport.] 



"On a narrow spit of sand between the rocks a dozen little girls are laughing, 

 romping, and pattering about." — Kingsley: Two Years Ago. ii. 



In studying geography, it is cjuite likely that you may have been told that 

 "a small point of land running into the sea, or a long, narrow shoal extending 

 from the shore into the sea" is called a spit, and, no doubt, the use of this com- 

 mon word in such a sense seemed strange to you. Had you taken pains to 

 look up the etymology of spit, a much clearer idea of its meaning would have 

 come to you. Spit is two words, in reality, of quite different origin, although 

 both go back to Anglo-Saxon, old Dutch, German, Icelandic and early English, 

 and not to Latin or Greek. With the word spit related to spittle and spew, 

 and in the modern sense to saliva, we have nothing to do, for the word applied 

 to a narrow point of land running out into the sea comes from a different 

 source. Although this word spit, like the other, is of early Dutch and Anglo- 

 Saxon origin and related French, Italian and Spanish sources, it comes from 

 words originally meaning a roasting-spit, a deer's horn, or the branches of a 

 deer's horn, a spear, pike, lance, a wooden peg, a tapering point. Remember- 

 ing that the ancient roasting-spit was a slender, sharply pointed stick or bar, 

 we see how apt the application of the word is to a long, narrow neck of^land 

 or sandv bar thrust into the sea. 



