266 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



coast birds. He is a winter migrant. The exact 

 limits of his summer nesting-ground in the North 

 remain undetermined. His wing power is wonder- 

 ful. His range is probably greater than that of 

 any known bird. He leaves the Arctic region for 

 a winter home beyond the Equator, travelling, by 

 the way, at great speed. He drops contingents as 

 he goes. From November till March, he swarms 

 along our coast, and then disappears utterly. He is 

 one of our most graceful shore birds, with a short 

 black bill, and about the same size as a godwit. 



A pair of silver plovers light ahead. If their 

 soft winter shades are so pleasing, what must their 

 summer plumage be ? They are called solitary, 

 because each is supposed to prefer his own society ; 

 but they are, frequently, met with in flocks of from 

 eight to a dozen. 



A sound like the grating of a rusty wheel comes 

 down from a V-shaped flight of pink-footed geese. 

 These are usually night-feeders, keeping watch and 

 ward by day against the approach of all suspicious 

 characters. But in the absence of moon, they 

 sometimes reverse this process, leaving the banks 

 at sunrise, and returning at the dusk. 



The coast takes a bend to form the estuary, 

 across the mouth of which, the water breaks in 



