THE WINTRY SHORE. 



A MONO the many sea-fowl which are seen at 

 ^ various times about the broad river mouths, on 

 the yellow sands or along the rugged steeps of our 

 long and wandering coast line, there are not a few 

 which are to be regarded as a sort of floating popula- 

 tion, changing with the changing season. 



Some, like the terns, are seen here only in the 

 summer. They come to our shores to breed, and 

 leave us again in the autumn. 



Others retire to inland moors, or even to Arctic 

 latitudes, for the summer, and return when the breed- 

 ing season is past. 



As for the rest, there are, scattered up and down 

 the coast, a number of stations where sea birds gather 

 from all directions at the pairing-time. When the 

 young are hatched these colonies break up and the 

 birds distribute themselves again round the islands. 



Conspicuous at all seasons among the gulls that 

 stand out like points of light along the cliff-ledges is 



