At the Water's Edge 



" A mighty rocke, 'gainst which doe rave, 



The roring billowes in their proud disdaine : " 



but the attractiveness of the sandy shore is of 

 quite another sort. Here one finds a milder 

 and more restful beauty on the broad and level 

 beach, where each retiring wave leaves, spread 

 before the eye, a momentary mirror of magnifi- 

 cent extent, wherein the clouds and sun by day, 

 and stars by night, age after age, are ever newly 

 imaged in the quicksilver flood; and where, 

 from spring to fall, the dainty nimble plovers, 

 running to and fro with each advancing and re- 

 treating wave, reflect their graceful forms and 

 motions on the glassy sands. During migration, 

 particularly, one finds various species of water 

 fowl along this beach, especially in the sand- 

 piper family ; and I here made the acquaintance 

 of that beautiful little coast-bird, the semi- 

 palm ated plover, one of the two ring-necked 

 species that are the most abundant of the plover 

 kind. 



Following the beach for a mile or more, I 

 discovered at first only numerous ducks, persist- 

 ently floating beyond the surf-line, and outside 

 the pale of specific distinguishableness, or occa- 

 sionally flying, in their characteristic manner, 

 in small squads, with rapid wing-beat, baggy 

 173 



