EYES AND NO EYES 39 
about it. Flats of slub ooze are the same in one 
locality as another, and beach is beach. As to the 
sand dunes, or sand hills, they are all alike in general 
features, go where you will ; the only difference is 
that some are of very great extent, and some com- 
paratively speaking small. One instance out of many 
that I have witnessed will prove how completely a 
bird's plumage may mirnic the surroundings that it 
lives and nests in. 
We are standing between broken hills of the sand 
dunes ; great humps there are, that will topple over 
during some high tide, for the swirl of the waters has 
washed the worn bases of several nearly through. In 
between, large patches of purple-grey shingles have 
been washed. I have called them purple-grey, as this 
is the general tone of them ; but broken shells, white 
pebbles, and the thousand and one atoms of flotsam 
and jetsam that litter the foreshore, make a glitter that 
is very deceptive, if you wish to pick matters out in 
detail. 
Tufts of marum, or bents for this creeping, wiry, 
grass-like growth is called by either name hold on 
where there is the least chance ; if I were asked to 
give this a name, I should call it sea couch for it will 
couch and hold on anywhere. A most valuable ally 
it is where it is found ; it binds the sand dunes by its 
