THE CREATURES OF THE SEA. • 11 



finny hands and fat sides, and round heads with 

 bright eyes, which are ever looking out for fish for 

 their Friday dinners — and every day is Friday to 

 the seaL 



And we must not forget the birds, for there are 

 thousands of them, — ducks and gulls, and divers 

 and murres, shags and sand-pipers, and herons 

 and pelicans; birds that dive, birds that swim, and 

 birds that spend most of their time on the wing. 

 O yes, the sea-coast is a wonderful place for birds, 

 for the waves give them food in abundance. 



And down in the water and along the beach 

 are all kinds of funny creatures, some with many 

 legs and some without any. There are crabs and 

 lobsters, shrimps and sand-fleas, barnacles and 

 starfishes; sea-urchins that cannot run, and sea- 

 cucumbers that are not good for pickles; sea- 

 worms and sea-slugs and sea-pens and sea-hares 

 and sea-anemones, and sea-almost-everything, ex- 

 cept sea-boys and sea-girls, and in summer they 

 are there too. 



Besides all these there are hydroids and jelly- 

 fishes, and corals and sponges, and squids and cut- 

 tles, and limpets and clams, and a hundred kinds 

 of creeping snails. It would take you a lifetime to 

 learn all that is now known about these creatures, 

 and then there would be plenty left for the next 



