54 BIRD HAUNTS AND NATURE MEMORIES 



thickest. Thus the congested area upon the rocks, now 

 thousands strong, was in constant unrest ; birds from the 

 outside dropped into the crush and pushed the outer 

 members into the water, where the pies, at any rate, 

 swam comfortably, though the bird, it is affirmed, only 

 swims when wounded ! With one lot of bar-tails, always 

 a numerous autumn visitor to this coast, were five larger 

 birds, standing higher on their darker legs, whose tails 

 at once gave them away as the rarer black-tailed godwits. 



Few wader notes are more beautiful than the liquid 

 time of the grey plover, known to the local gunners as the 

 silver plover to distinguish it from the golden and green 

 plovers. Both these species are common on the marshes, 

 but seldom come far seaward; the silver is the real shore 

 bird. One or two " wings " passed, but did not settle; 

 in winter dress as in summer the grey is one of the most 

 beautiful of our many waders. Cormorants passed on 

 strong wing, flying straight and with businesslike deter- 

 mination ; they pass up to the edge of the marsh and hunt 

 the gutters on the ebb. Away over Hilbre clouds of 

 little birds and knots, too far off to distinguish species, 

 turned and twisted, flashing like silvery rain as they 

 swooped suddenly down; high tide for some means rest, 

 for others aerial recreation. Away in the main wigeon, 

 pintail, and a few mallard drifted up on the tide, avoiding 

 the bustling tugs which thrust their way seaward, the 

 flowing tide curling against their straining bows; here 

 and there a scoter, black upon the water, allowed itself 

 to be carried upstream, but the majority of these sea- 

 ducks were diving over the submerged banks in the Bay. 

 We neither saw nor heard the geese, pink-footeds and 

 white-fronteds, which had arrived before September 

 ended; they were up on the marshes or the Sealand fields. 



Then came a lull. The last bank of empty cockle shells 

 was covered in the little muddy inlets, cut deep in the 



