Song Birds and Water Fowl 



less numbered at least from two to three 

 thousand. The passage of such a host, by so 

 mysterious an impulse, is an exhibition of one 

 of the " forces of nature" that one does not 

 often have the opportunity to witness. A 

 bird's-eye view of such a silent procession, fifty 

 miles in length, swiftly winding its way along 

 the sinuosities of the Atlantic coast, from the 

 Southern States to British America, would cer- 

 tainly be an interesting spectacle. Afterward, 

 a " wave " of ducks passed by, not as large in 

 the aggregate as that of the gulls ; but the indi- 

 vidual flocks, numbering from fifty to over a 

 hundred each, were much larger and more pict- 

 uresque. While gulls are much more aerial, I 

 observed that the ducks flew very much higher 

 in migration. 



Along the shore, too, were sandpipers. The 

 principal feature that distinguishes them from 

 plovers is the long bill, by which they can 

 not only obtain food in shallow water, but can 

 probe for it in sand or soil, like woodcock 

 and all long-billed species; which shows the 

 extreme sensitiveness of what appears to be a 

 mere dead, horny protuberance, and somewhat 

 analogous in its functions to the teeth of 

 other animals. I could not ' ' specify ' ' this 

 178 



