UNDER GENIAL SKIES 



harbors in the turf. His methods are hke those of 

 the robin searching for grubs or angle-worms. He 

 scrutinizes the turf very carefully as he runs about 

 over it, making frequent drives into it with his bill, 

 but only now and then seizing the prey of which he 

 is in search. When he does so, he shows the same 

 judgment which the robin does under like condi- 

 tions. He pulls slowly and evenly, so as to make 

 sure of the whole worm, or to compel it to let go its 

 hold upon the soil without breaking. All birds are 

 wise about their food-supplies. 



On the beach the wild life that I see is all on 

 wings. There are the tranquil, effortless gliding 

 herring gulls, snow-white beneath and pearl-gray 

 above, displaying an affluence of wing-power restful 

 to look upon — airplanes that put forth their powers 

 so subtly and so silently as to elude both eye and 

 ear. At low tide I see large groups of their white 

 and gray-blue forms seated upon the dark, moss- 

 covered rocks. Fresh water is at a premium on 

 this coast, and the thirsty gulls avail themselves 

 of the makeshift of the drain-pipes from the town, 

 which discharge on the beach. 



There are the clumsy-looking but powerful- 

 winged birds, the brown pelicans, usually in a line 

 of five or six, skimming low over the waves, shaping 

 their course to the *'hilly sea," often gliding on set 

 wings for a long distance, rising and falling to clear 

 the water — coasting, at it were, on a horizontal sur- 



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