296 DECEMBER 



fare as well in the battle of life as his dusky com- 

 panions 1 



Of sadder tinge even than the redshanks, dun- 

 lins, and sandpipers are the melancholy curlews, of 

 which there are half-a-dozen down there, thrusting 

 their long curved beaks into the ooze, and dragging 

 out the hideous, but doubtless succulent, lug-worms. 

 They are the most shy of all the plovers, but here, 

 ensconced behind a grey stone wall, you may follow 

 all their movements as minutely as if they were 

 running about on your own drawing-room carpet. 

 They are quaint old-world objects, such as one may 

 imagine moving over the primeval ooze, among 

 giant lizards of pleiocene design lying at uncon- 

 scionable length in the sun. While you are watch- 

 ing the curlews swish a little bevy of swift birds 

 sweep over the field with a single piping note, shrill 

 and short. It is a vedette from a great army of 

 golden plover in the ploughed lands above the cliffs, 

 come down to whet their palates with a little sea 

 fare. 



There is a gaily-coloured group in the little sandy 

 haven close to the boulder point ; nine sheldrakes, 

 brilliant with glossy green heads, snowy breasts and 

 backs, chestnut flanks, and vermilion bills and legs. 



