AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER ON NEST 
CHAPTER XIV 
SHORE-BIRD LOITERERS 
Thou call'st along ihe sand and haunt'st the surge. 
Dana. 
S OMEHOW shore-birds in their very nature seem to 
belong to the far North. This, of course, is but the 
imagining of a New Englander accustomed to see 
them mainly as swiftly moving travellers, advancing persist¬ 
ently toward the arctic or fleeing reluctantly before its cold. 
Their quick movements, restless manner, and great powers of 
flight all fit in with their impulse toward the frozen barrens, 
until one feels the boreal in their very aspect. 
Yet there are species, equally capable of extended flight 
with this hardy majority, whose members are content with 
