AMBROSE ON BIRDS FREQUENTING ST. MARGARET's BAY. 53 



and only the smaller ones pass close by the outside capes and head- 

 lands. Consequently, Green Island affords the best shooting, 

 Iron-bound Island, off Chester Bay, the next best, then the outside 

 ledges at the west side of the mouth of this Bay, where many bii-ds 

 stop to feed on shell-fish. The inside flocks then make a straight 

 course for Peggy's Point, thence fly directly to Betty's Island, off 

 Prospect, — a very few passing within shot of the islands off Dover. 

 The young birds, both of the eider and scoter species, viz., such 

 as are about pairing for the first time, do not as a general rule fly 

 with their seniors, but prefer going in flocks by themselves. Whe- 

 ther this arrangement is dictated by prudence on the part of the 

 old birds, or impatience of controul and a desire for congenial society 

 among the young, its consequences prove that the largest liberty is 

 not always the best thing for youth and inexperience. Urged by 

 the instinct of reproduction towards the sunny islands of the north, 

 the young birds take the shortest routes, pass within reach of the 

 fowlers' shot, and many pay for their impatience with their lives. 

 " Festina lente " is a lesson towards housekeeping most frequently 

 learned by painful experience, by men as well as birds on our 

 shores. Early marriages among the thriftless and unprovided lead 

 to -much misery among our fishing population. 



The food of most of the duck species seems to consist mainly of 

 shell-fish, principally mussels, which they obtain from the various 

 outlying ledges. I say most of the duck species, because some — 

 such as "shell-birds," murrs, and turrs, — like the gulls, live mostly 

 on fish. And here we observe the provident care of Him who 

 openeth His hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness. 

 Bhds living on shellfish and weeds are furnished with a broad, flat, 

 strong bill, suitable for detaching and crushing their food. Others, 

 such as shell-birds, which live on both small shells and fish, have 

 the bill narrower and stronger, as well as sharper in the curved 

 edges at the sides. Others still, such as turrs, and gulls, &c., which 

 feed on fish alone, have the bill narrow, sharp at the sides, and 

 generally with a downward curve at the point, for the better seiz- 

 ing and securing the slippery and struggling prey. 



Sea-birds, much more than land-birds, are inclined to straggle 

 from the main flocks and deviate from general rules. The mi- 

 gratory thrush is almost the only straggler among our land birds 



