86 



ANIMAL LIFK 



sea affords. They herald the, shoals of migratory fish 

 and the advent of their fry ; some decimate the cockle- 

 beds. From the far north to Australia wading birds 

 forage along the coast, and find in sand- worms, mol- 

 luscs, and sand-hoppers a never-failing food-supply. 

 On our rocky coasts, from April to July, the puffin, 

 the guillemot, and other spring migrants of the sea 



FIG. 17. The Black-headed Gull, Nest, and Young. 

 (From specimens in the Manchester Museum.} 



have made the rocks musical with their chorus, 

 fishing the day through, and disappearing in late 

 summer as mysteriously as they came. With autumn 

 the stream of southward-going shore birds take their 

 place, and in the hardest winter flocks more dense 

 than those of spring cover the sand flats, and find 

 abundant nourishment on the inexhaustible shore. 



