BIRD-LIFE ALONG THE SHORE. 183 



better haunt for wading birds than many of these 

 tidal muds could not be conceived ; but local 

 changes have effaced much of their old-time 

 ornithological features. Probably the most im- 

 portant has been the invasion of these localities 

 by railways. Most shore birds of all things prefer 

 perfect quiet and seclusion, and these two con- 

 ditions have vanished for ever with the advent of 

 the locomotive. Resident birds, even some of the 

 shyest, will in time become more or less reconciled 

 to the roar of the passing train, but visitors do not 

 so readily overcome their fears. Both sides of the 

 estuary of the Exe, and the most marshy and 

 muddy side of that of the Teign, have been in- 

 vaded by railways, and the vast numbers of shore 

 birds that formerly visited these districts now do 

 so no more. But the traveller by the Great 

 Western Railway between Exeter and Newton 

 Abbot may repeatedly satisfy himself that, al- 

 though the migrant hosts have sought quieter 

 haunts elsewhere, the resident species have ac- 

 customed themselves to the change. In places 

 the flying express thunders by the mudflats and 

 saltings with only a low wall between it and them. 

 More especially is this the case between Exminster 



