SALT-WATER BIRDS. 1 93 



so that almost any flat-bottomed boat can with 

 safety coast miles of this open sea. Over the 

 water rings the clear call of the curlew, and in 

 its shallow edge you may see his buff coat as 

 he wades about and plies his sickle-shaped bill. 

 Beside him, with bill as long, but curved the 

 other way as if meant to feed on manna from 

 Heaven, the avocet in snowy coat and wings of 

 jet stands fat and happy. On almost every 

 square rod of the shore the mottled colors of 

 the willet blend into gray, and beside him plays 

 the same yellow-leg that on the bars of some of 

 the Atlantic streams has stirred such tumult in 

 so many boyish souls. In sober gray the san- 

 derling trots along the mud-flats, and flashes of 

 white and black come from where sandpipers 

 whisk and whirl about as if little time were 

 allowed them to get anywhere. Here a trim 

 bill and gamy tints make the phalarope seem 

 of finer blood than the rest, and there the dow- 

 itcher with longer bill, more slender head, and 

 richer colored breast airs himself as if the finest 

 gentleman in the crowd. Among them is an 

 occasional gleam from the bright black arid 

 white of the oyster-catcher, whose shorter bill 



