Song Birds and Water Fowl 
have ever seen; and there is withal a sober 
comicality in such an impromptu scene that can 
never be forgotten. 
But, although soconservative in behavior be- 
fore an in-rolling wave, these creatures are not 
at all timid, when sure of its depth; and they 
wade fearlessly through the pools formed in the 
depressions of the sand, even when almost deep 
enough forswimming. I hope these little friends 
of mine have some poetic sense of their sur- 
roundings, in habitually lingering by the sea; 
but appearances indicate that their impulse is 
of a grosser sort, and that they are only after 
the bodily refreshment thrown on the shore by 
every tide. 
A curious and interesting chapter could be 
written on the intimate connection existing be- 
tween facts apparently standing in no kind of 
relationship, in the economy of nature. One 
instance of the sort would be, the purposes, 
more numerous and important than at first 
appears, served by the oceanic tides; one of 
them being that, by the endless circulation 
of the water near the shore, vegetable and 
animal growth is both promoted and thrown 
upon the beach, thereby maintaining the life 
of water fowl. Marine ornithology is thus 
176 
