268 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



ready entrance by driving a semicircular hole 

 into the shells lying exposed on the banks. 



Just beyond the zone of the oyster-catcher, 

 stalking soberly, and every now and then inserting 

 his beak into the sand in search .of annelids, is 

 the curlew. What advantage the bend in the 

 bill gives, except perhaps to feel under stones, it 

 were hard to say; and as no other explanation 

 is forthcoming, I shall adopt this one tentatively. 

 The various ways in which the same end is reached 

 always keep the student of nature from wearying. 

 The bill, of the snipe is straight ; that of the curlew 

 bends decidedly towards him ; that of the godwit 

 slightly away from him. 



Still farther out than the curlew is a shapeless 

 mass all huddled together, which only experience 

 could identify as the heron. Deep as he is, the 

 short tail is clear above the surface. And, when 

 he rises, the long legs are dropped behind to per- 

 form the tail's function as the steering apparatus 

 of the bird. Thus, two useful ends are secured by 

 the simplest possible device. 



Round the corner, just within the shelter of the 

 projecting sand-dunes when the wind is easterly 

 and seaward, is an old boat. It drifted ashore 

 one night in a gale ; and the owner was either too 



