At the Water’s Edge 
brought into unexpected dependence upon the 
moon. 
A few days later, on the same beach, I had 
the quite unusual opportunity of seeing an im- 
mense migration-wave of gulls, passing close 
by the shore. They were evidently not anx- 
ious to make a short journey of it, otherwise 
they would have cut across from Cape May to 
Montauk Point, instead of skirting along the 
entire coast of New Jersey and Long Island. 
They did not form one solid group, in their 
flight, as wild geese often do, but passed along, 
sometimes in a continuous stream, at other 
times in detached flocks in close succession, 
varying in numbers from ten to forty, and oc- 
casionally in such compact masses as to be 
quite imposing. For the most part they flew 
very close to the water, as when skimming 
the surface for food; but one flock of about 
seventy-five passed high overhead and descend- 
ed to the water farther on. Being interested 
to form an estimate of the entire number, I 
counted one hundred and sixty that passed 
in five minutes, and as the ‘‘wave’’ lasted 
with little interruption for nearly two hours 
while I was watching it, and had apparently 
begun before I arrived at the beach, it doubt- 
177 
