SHORE BIRDS. 
Their bill is long and sensitive and they can curve or move its tip 
without opening it at the base. When the bill is thrust into the mud 
the tip may therefore grasp a worm and it thus becomes a finger as 
well as a probe. 
Though not rankedas song birds, many of the Snipes and Plovers have 
pleasing calls and whistles and in the breeding season they become 
highly musical or indulge in singular vocal performances. 
The song of the Bartramian Sandpiper would attract the attention of 
the least observant and the singular aerial evolutions of the Snipe and 
Woodcock lend an unusual interest to the study of these birds in the 
spring. The Pectoral Sandpiper was observed by Nelson in Alaska, in 
May, to fill its csophagus with air dilating the skin of the neck and 
breast and forming a sack as large as the body. Then inthe air or on 
the ground the bird produced a series of hollow booming notes, con- 
stituting its love song. 
The Plovers have shorter, harder bills than the true Snipe and sev- 
eral of our species frequent the uplands rather than muddy shore or 
tidal flats. 
The Turnstones are true shore birds. Their home with us is on the 
seacoast where they feed along the beach turning over shells and 
pebbles in their search for food. 
The Oyster-catchers are also strictly maritime. They frequent bars 
left bare by the tide and, it is said, use their stout bills to force open 
mussels, oysters, or other bivalves left exposed by the water. This 
belief, however, does not appear to rest on careful, definite observation. 
The Jacana belongs to asmall family of birds with representatives 
throughout the tropics. All its members are remarkable for the length 
of their toes, the wide extent of which enable these birds to walk over 
aquatic vegetation. So, for instance, I have seen them running over 
small lily leaves which, sinking slightly beneath the surface, made the 
birds appear to be walking on the water. 
The Limicole, as a rule, nest on the ground. The Phalaropes, 
Snipes, and Plovers lay four eggs, the Oyster-catcher three, the Jacanas, 
it is said, four in some species to ten in others. The eggs of all are 
proportionately large and pointed or pear-shaped and are usually thick- 
ly marked with,dark spots. The young are born covered with down 
and leave the nest just after hatching. 
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