AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER ON NEST 



CHAPTER XIV 



SHORE-BIRD LOITERERS 



Thou calVst along the sand and haunt 'st the surge. 



DANA. 



SOMEHOW shore-birds in their very nature seem to 

 belong to the far North. This, of course, is but the 

 imagining of a New Englander accustomed to see 

 them mainly as swiftly moving travellers, advancing persist- 

 ently toward the arctic or fleeing reluctantly before its cold. 

 Their quick movements, restless manner, and great powers of 

 flight all fit in with their impulse toward the frozen barrens, 

 until one feels the boreal in their very aspect. 



Yet there are species, equally capable of extended flight 

 with this hardy majority, whose members are content with 



