OCT. GOOD CONDITION OF WILD BIRDS. 25 



their appetite. It is amusing to observe these birds 

 as they stride slowly and deliberately in knee-deep 

 water, with necks outstretched, intent on their prey, 

 their grey shadowy figures looking more like 

 withered sticks than living creatures. 



As for curlews, peewits, sand-pipers, et id genus 

 omne, their numbers in the bay are countless. Re- 

 gularly as the tide begins to ebb do thousands of 

 these birds leave the higher banks of sand and 

 shingle on which they have been resting, and betake 

 themselves to the wet sands in search of their food ; 

 and immense must be the supply which every tide 

 throws up, or leaves exposed, to afford provision to 

 them all. Small shell-fish, shrimps, sea- worms, and 

 other insects form this wondrous abundance. Every 

 bird too out of those countless flocks is not only in 

 good order, but is covered with fat, showing how 

 well the supply is proportioned to the demand : in- 

 deed, in the case of all wild birds it is observable 

 that they are invariably plump and well-conditioned, 

 unless prevented by some wound or injury from 

 foraging for themselves. 



On the mussel scarps are immense flocks of 

 oyster-catchers, brilliant with their black and white 

 plumage, and bright red bill, and a truly formidable 

 weapon must that bill be to mussel or cockle ; it is 

 long and powerful, with a sharp point as hard as 



VOL. II. c 



