46 LLANDDWYN 



Having ridden some miles, I picked up by the aid 

 of the glass a peculiar white streak running along 

 inshore. I examined it, but could not make out 

 its nature, and was almost disposed to pass on, when 

 I thought I detected a movement as of something 

 white upon the white. Having satisfied myself on 

 this point, I headed straight inshore. After coming 

 within what might be considered the range of a shore 

 bird's susceptibilities, I put my head down and raced 

 over the sand with a speed only possible on such a 

 firm-bedded level track, then sat up, and let the free- 

 wheel play. 



The 'cycle again vindicated its claim to share in 

 work of this sort, for as I dashed up, a colony of 

 Lesser Terns rose from their nests crying wildly 

 " Quit! quit! quit!" But I had come a long way to 

 quit so soon. 



The white streak that had first caught my eye 

 now resolved itself into as exquisite a picture of its 

 kind as I am likely ever to look upon. Hundreds 

 of thousands of shells, largely cockle shells, and for 

 the most part unbroken, had been strewn upon a 

 tract of fine, even sand, its regularity disturbed by 

 the presence of no other object. Sun, wind, and 

 tide had done the work, though now it lay beyond the 

 reach of the tide. The tide had brought the shells 

 up and laid them out, studding the sand rather than 

 loading it confusedly ; the wind had rocked them 

 over, so that they lay in most cases with their 

 convex sides uppermost ; and the sun had blanched 

 them as they lay. Dazzling white in the sunlight, 

 this still surf of shells skirted a broken line of marram- 

 tufted sandhills, and ran in to flood little creeks and 



