WOODCOCK, SNIPE, AND PLOVER. 281 



and lifeless ; they are for ever searching for food in 

 one shape or another, only desisting when the waters 

 cover their feeding-grounds. A most important part 

 is played by them in devouring, as they do, hosts of 

 marine creatures that would prove injurious even to 

 some of the denizens of the sea itself if they were 

 not kept in check by the waders. 



A fellow-naturalist remarks that woodcocks and 

 snipes do not visit the tide. This may be true in a 

 general way ; but in hard weather — such, for instance, 

 as the birds suffered from so terribly last winter — 

 you will find both of these feeding with the shore 

 birds. 



