194 



ORALLY. 



and swallow entire. The number of young of these soft- 

 bodied animals is very great, the shells especially are found 

 by myriads, adhering to the rocks and stones, between the 

 high and low water lines ; so that in the breeding season, 

 the birds may conceal themselves and their young in the 

 inequalities of the rocks, and find plenty of food without 

 being on the wing or otherwise exposed. 



As they are found not only on the other European shores 

 that have nearly the same latitude as those of England, but 

 on those of the Mediterranean, and on the west side of the 

 Atlantic as far north as Hudson's Bay, and as their nests are 

 rarely seen anywhere, it is not inconsistent to suppose, that 

 they may disperse themselves over the more inaccessible 

 parts of the shores, in all those places where they are found 

 in small flocks in the winter. 



There is one analogy between the seasonal productiveness 

 of the sea and that of the land, which should never be lost 

 sight of, as it forms, as far as analogy (which is our only 

 guide to the unknown) can form, a sort of guide to the his- 

 tory of those birds which appear on our shores at certain 

 seasons and take their departure during others, without our 

 being able to bring them within the operation of those laws 

 by which seasonal migration is in general regulated. 



The rocky shores or the stony ones, where the stones are 

 not moved and rolled by the tide, bear to the flat beaches of 

 sand or rolled shingle nearly the same relation which woods, 

 groves, brakes, and other vegetable covers, do to the open 

 fields, downs, and commons, upon land. On them, summer 

 is the time of plenty with the birds, as they are then full of 

 the young of the smaller marine animals, which, in the still 

 water, or only washed by the summer spray, and warmed by 

 the summer sun, adhere to the stones, so as often to form 

 a complete incrustation, and present to the shore birds as 

 copious a supply of food, and one which can be found in as 



