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ANIMAL LIFE 



sea affords. Lhey herald the shoals of migratory fish 

 and the advent of their fry ; some decimate the cockle- 

 beds. From the far north to Australia wading birds 

 forage along the coast, and find in sand-worms, mol- 

 luscs, and sand-hoppers a never-failing food-supply. 

 On our rocky coasts, from April to July, the puffin, 

 the guillemot, and other spring migrants of the sea 



Fig. 17.— The Black-headed Gull, Nest, and Young. 

 {From specimens in the Manchester Museum.) 



June made the rocks musical with their chorus, 

 fishing the dav through, and disappearing in late 

 summer as mysteriously as they came. With autumn 

 the stream of southward-going shore birds take their 

 place, and in the hardest winter flocks more dense 

 than those of spring cover the sand flats, and find 

 abundant nourishment on the inexhaustible shore. 



