CHAPTER VIII. 



ON SEA AND SHORE. 



IT is the bird-life of sea and shore especially that 

 renders these northern shires so much more 

 interesting than the littoral counties of the south 

 and west. Compared with these the southern coasts 

 seem tame and deserted, indeed. This is principally 

 due not only to the fact that so many marine species 

 breed in northern areas only, but also to the much 

 greater strength of migration generally along the 

 coasts. All along the coast from Lincolnshire north- 

 wards to the Firth of Forth, and onwards to the 

 Hebrides, St. Kilda, the Orkneys and the Shetlands, 

 we have vast and varied bird populations, not only 

 scattered up and down the shore, but congested here 

 and there where the sea-fowl in unnumbered hosts 

 congregate to rear their broods. The southern 

 counties present us with nothing approaching to this; 

 the wealth and variety of the marine avifauna of the 

 northern shires is one of the most pleasing of their 

 many characteristics. 



For the sake of comparison we may here state 

 that along the entire coast-line of South Devon 

 embracing some of the finest cliff scenery in Eng- 



(M618) O 



