236 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



fond of society ; Magpies and Jays like to live 

 solitary or in pairs. Nearly all the Finches, the 

 Tits, Buntings and Larks, Wagtails and Pipits 

 become gregarious in autumn, and more or less 

 sociable with other and often distantly related 

 species. 



Mixed congregations of quite a different cha- 

 racter may frequently be observed on the sea- coast 

 at this season ; some of them on the mud-flats, 

 for instance, are intensely interesting. From far 

 and wide these little strangers come Knots and 

 Dunlins from the Arctic regions ; Golden Plovers 

 from the moors ; Black-headed Gulls from distant 

 inland breeding-stations ; wary Herons from the 

 adjoining woods ; Oystercatchers from the rock- 

 bound coasts further north, all assembled here to 

 search the gleaming sands and muds for food, as 

 soon as ever the tide has ebbed. Far out on 

 the open banks the first small flocks of Geese 

 have assembled perhaps three or four species 

 in every company a noisy, restless host, some 

 busy preening their feathers, others fast asleep. 

 Flocks of young Knots mingle indiscriminately 

 with Dunlins, and stray examples of Purple 

 Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Curlew Sandpipers, and 

 Stints, lost and separated from their companions, 

 join the general throng, apparently for company's 

 sake. Few birds are more sociably or gre- 

 gariously inclined than these little sand birds. 

 Sometimes we may meet with a solitary bird 

 upon the muds, but it is almost invariably a sickly 



