Patrolling the Beach, 



Farther along on the beach are some 

 little creatures in motion, and we press 

 on for a nearer view. They are run- 

 ning about perilously near to the 

 crashing breakers, but nimbly escaping 

 every onrushing wave. They resemble 

 plovers or sandpipers with their slender 

 legs, long, sharply-pointed wings, and 

 white breasts, but they prove to be surf 

 birds, and as we get nearer to them we 

 see the plain brown color of their backs. 

 They are too shy for close inspection, 

 however, and go scudding away with 

 the wind at the first intimation of 

 danger. 



Again our attention is arrested by a 

 dead bird on the beach, a Brandt's cor- 

 morant, which has succumbed to the 

 elements, and, not far from it, a Pacific 

 black-throated loon. Here is a creature 

 almost as much at home underneath the 

 water as upon the surface, yet unable to 

 endure the fierce shock of the waves. 

 Continuing our quest we find that other 

 redoubtable diver, the western grebe. 

 57 



