Song Birds and Water Fowl 
the shell, although their staple food is herring. 
To do this, they take up the shells into the air, 
and drop them on the rocks to break them ; 
and he adds, ‘‘ we saw one that had met with 
avery hard mussel, take it up three times in 
succession before it succeeded in breaking it ; 
and I was much pleased to see the bird let it 
fall each succeeding time from a greater height 
than before.’’ 
Their choice of habitat in summer necessarily 
precludes the general student from enjoying 
many of the aspects of this very interesting fam- 
ily. But, in their winter life among us, they 
afford most pleasant entertainment for an hour 
to anyone who finds a flock of them upon the 
beach. The spectator can no more tire of 
watching the graceful and gigantic scrolls that 
they inscribe upon the air, or their languishing 
passage over the sea, than he can weary of the 
ocean’s ceaseless roll, whose deep incessant un- 
dertones are an apt accompaniment for these 
noble airy beings in their diverting and untir- 
ing exhibitions; beings formed, as one might 
imagine, from the waves’ foamy crests, mys- 
teriously winged and vitalized—the offspring of 
the sea, and mantled by the sky. 
Possibly others may not derive any positive 
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