I70 IN NORFOLK BY THE SEA 



piping call, the first sound of which sufficed to lure 

 the sitting bird away. 



And as they stood together on the bank, it was 

 curious to see the different behaviour of the two. 

 For the bird whose turn it was to sit was all anxiety ; 

 walking irresolutely a few feet or so and back, ruffling 

 its feathers, looking eagerly out in the direction of the 

 nest, evidently unable to shake itself together for the 

 passage of that open ground. But the other took a 

 different line ; standing still and preening its feathers, 

 and giving its partner a dab of the beak from time to 

 time, as if to say " Hurry up, now ; what a nervous 

 fidget you are ! Those our two eggs will be getting 

 quite cold." 



Is it not marvellous that any plant, not being a 



— cactus, should find life and growth in this dry sand ? 



^ .^ — Yet many do. The vigorous little sea-purslane* gets 



a footing anywhere ; elder-bushes flourish and flower 



finely, and make good hiding for the brown linnets' 



^:f^" . nests ; deadly nightshade in rank tufts points to where 



a hut has some time stood ; maram grasses and i 



^ glaucous blue-grass bind the sands together with their 



roots. 



And now in the very pulse of the sun where it 

 * Arenaria peploides. 



-y 



