From Fox's Earth 



ripples. If, hitherto, they have been so ab- 

 sorbed with their own little ring formed by 

 chubby hands, next August let them make new 

 friends. 



Paddling in the rush of the breaking ripples 

 are many gulls, which scarce take the trouble to 

 get out of the wader's way. As a change in the 

 puzzles weekly propounded in the children's 

 corner of magazines, it might be well to ask how 

 many different kinds of their fellow-waders there 

 were. They can scarcely fail to make out three 

 the herring-gull, the common gull, and the black- 

 headed gull. In August the difficulty is greater 

 than at any other time, but that only makes the 

 puzzle so much the more interesting. They are 

 in process of changing the summer for the winter 

 plumage. The black-headed gull is imperfectly 

 named after its summer hood. And now that it 

 has no longer a black head it is hard to tell. 

 Only it is the smallest of the three, and has red 

 legs. 



Certain returning divers sail close in to add 

 to the list. Many waders pipe along the coast, 

 whose notes should be easy to distinguish. And 

 altogether the circle of new acquaintances on an 

 August day is fairly large. 



In the sterner conditions of marine life flocking 

 comes hard upon, harder even than on the hills. 

 The three phases, moulded by the environment, 

 are of exceptional interest. In the vast and 



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