At the Water’s Edge 
flock of sandpipers. Many of the species in 
this family are as much alike as some of the 
sparrows, and hardly admit of discrimination, 
except by the aid of a little powder and shot. 
Running about in the salt grass was a species 
that occupies the debatable ground between 
land and water birds—one of the sea-side spar- 
rows, the sharp-tailed finch; in anatomy and 
appearance a thorough land bird, and even in 
the ‘‘song group ;’’ but with as much partiality 
for water as some of the genuine water fowl, 
and perhaps never found far from shore. 
While beauty and, with few exceptions, 
musical excellence are not conspicuous features 
in sparrows, it is certainly interesting to note, 
in this large class of closely related birds, 
such a degree of individuality as is shown in 
their different tastes in regard to habitat; some 
preferring our temperate climate, and others go- 
ing into the Arctic regions; some abiding in 
the fields and the upland pasture, a few resort- 
ing to the swamps, and still others found al- 
most exclusively among the salt marshes along 
the coast. Of this last-named sort are the sea- 
side and the sharped-tailed finches, and the 
savannah sparrow— in general appearance quite 
alike, but with dissimilar head-markings, and 
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