A Day on the Bay Shore, 



croaks or quacks is a new experience to 

 many of us. The gulls are usually- 

 silent and specter-like as they fly on 

 graceful wing, with their heads turning 

 now this way, and again that, in their 

 constant search for food ; but when 

 once these beautiful scavengers have 

 found a supply of food drifting on the 

 tide they are the noisiest birds of the 

 bay shore. They are voracious feeders, 

 pouncing with great avidity upon any 

 floating thing which is eatable, and 

 uttering their loud cries until sometimes 

 a vast throng congregates about the 

 spot, with a tumultuous fluttering of 

 wings. 



At length the tide is so high that the 

 mud-flats are no longer visible, and the 

 shore birds have all disappeared. A 

 Pacific black-throated loon swims grace- 

 fully over the choppy sea and suddenly 

 slides down into the water out of sight. 

 We look across the bay toward the 

 Golden Gate and see the sails of out- 

 going and incoming vessels. The long 



lOI 



