CHAP. vin. FLOCK OF BIRDS. 141 



from the shore. I listened fcr some time, as I knew 

 it was the season (September) for many of our migra- 

 tory species to visit us. Never having heard the cry 

 before, I was speedily on the beach. But it was grow- 

 ing dark, and I had not cat's eyes. The sound, too, 

 ceased so soon as I had gained the beach. After 

 groping about for some time, I thought I espied a 

 rather large flock of birds at some distance along the 

 shore. I approached cautiously, and found that I 

 was correct ; the flock consisting chiefly of ringed 

 plovers, dunlins, and sanderlings. From the latter 

 circumstance, and from the fact that the cry was that 

 of a sandpiper, I was pretty sure that a stranger was 

 amongst them. Although I could see well enough 

 that the birds were on the wet sand between me 

 and the water, I could not make them out distinctly. 

 Once or twice I thought I could distinguish one con- 

 siderably smaller than the others, but I soon felt 

 that I had been mistaken. I was now in a state of 

 great excitement. Every limb shook like an aspen 

 leaf, or a cock's tail on a windy day. What was I to 

 do ? True, I might have fired at them, but the odds 

 were greatly against my being successful. 



" It was now fairly dark, and the birds had retired 

 to rest on a ridge of rocks which intervenes between 

 the sands and the links. Instead of returning 

 home, as any one else would have done, I laid myself 

 down in a hollow till morning, to wait their first 

 appearance, in the hope of attaining my object. It 



