54 SANDY SEA-SHORE. 



promenade, generally of considerable length and breadth; 

 while it rarely happens that monotony is so absolute 

 as to destroy the picturesque associations of the shore. 

 The constant pulsation of the waves on the margin of 

 the tide, far from affecting us with the sense of mono- 

 tony, serves rather to soothe the mind ; while the 

 changes of light and shade on the surface of the sea 

 supply sufficient variety to keep the senses awake. 

 And these changes are quite sufficient, even on the 

 tamest shores, to arrest the attention. Few have at- 

 tempted to paint coast scenes like those which Crab be 

 so graphically brings before us : 



" Where all beside is pebbly length of shore, 

 And far as eye can reach, it can discern no more ;'' 



and none with his power of description. The coast which 

 awakened his genius is one of the least picturesque 

 in England ; but he saw it with the eyes of a poet 

 and a naturalist. And all who learn the use of similar 

 organs of vision will find that there is no place so dull 

 as not to afford us abundant sources of pleasure. 



If we do nothing but watch the flocks of sea-birds 

 which, on the recess of the tide, are attracted to the 

 shore in search of food, their habits will soon begin 

 to interest us. Gulls, Terns, and Sandpipers, of various 

 species, will then become familiar friends; and in watch- 

 ing their various ways, and tracing them when they 

 leave us, discovering whence they come, and to what 

 country they annually migrate, we shall begin to feel 

 a strong interest in all that concerns them. The 

 Dunlin, the most common of the Sandpipers (Tringa 



