A Day on the Bay Shore. 



thrusting them down quite to the base 

 and bringing out of the slime many a 

 tempting morsel. In their eager search 

 for tit-bits they wade out into the water 

 as far as the tops of their legs. Large 

 flocks, sometimes numbering fifty or 

 more individuals, frequently congregate 

 about a favorable feeding place. The 

 long-billed curlew is the largest of 

 our waders, measuring about two feet in 

 length, and is instantly recognizable by 

 its abnormally long, slender and some- 

 what curving bill. It is colored in gen- 

 eral a brownish cinnamon or rufous, 

 darkest on the back and lightest on the 

 throat. Another species, the Hudso- 

 nian curlew, is found, although much 

 less commonly, about the bay shore. 

 It is much smaller and has a consider- 

 ably shorter bill. 



Among the other waders which tarry 

 upon the fiats until reluctantly driven 

 off by the incoming tide are the black- 

 bellied plover and the black-necked 

 stilt ; but as the breeze freshens and the 



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