TALITRUS. 161 



than the first, feeble; fifth joint smaller than the fourth, 

 flattened, rounded at the end. 



Common on all our sandy coasts, where it forms the 

 principal food of the ringed plover and many shore birds. 

 Colonel Montagu remarks that it is one of those creatures 

 whose service is most apparent in contributing to the clear- 

 ing away of putrid matter. 



It is to this species Archdeacon Paley alludes in the 

 26th chapter of his ' Natural Theology/* as an instance 

 of the abundance of happiness in the lower creatures. He 

 says, " Walking by the sea-side, in a calm evening, upon a 

 sandy shore, and with an ebbing tide, I have frequently 

 remarked the appearance of a dark cloud, or rather very 

 thick mist, hanging over the edge of the water, to the 

 height perhaps of half a yard, and of the breadth of two 

 or three yards, stretching along the coast as far as the eye 

 could reach, and always retiring with the water. When 

 this cloud came to be examined, it proved to be nothing 

 else than so much space filled with young Shrimps, in the 

 act of bounding into the air from the shallow margin of the 

 water, or from the wet sand. If any motion of a mute 

 animal could express delight, it was this ; if they had meant 

 * P. 458, 12th ed. 



M 



