BIRDS OF THE SEA AND THE SHORE. 



In my preceding essays I have treated of birds chiefly 

 as they are endowed with song, or have some particulany 

 interesting trait of character. But I must not omit those 

 birds which may be especially regarded as picturesque 

 objects in landscape. A large proportion of these are 

 the birds of the sea and the shore. They are not sing- 

 ing-birds. Nature has not provided them with the gift 

 of song, the music of which would be lost amidst the 

 roaring and dashing of waves. Neither do I make 

 them the subject of my remarks . as objects of Natural 

 History, but rather as actors in the romance of Nature. 

 I treat of them as they affect the pleasant solitudes they 

 frequent, and increase their impressiveness chiefly by their 

 graceful or singular flight. To the motions of birds, no 

 less than to their beauty of plumage and to the sounds 

 of their voices, are we indebted for a great part of the in- 

 terest we feel in our native land. The more^we study 

 them, the more shall we feel that in whatever direction 

 we turn our observations, we may extend them to infinity. 

 There is no limit to the study of Nature. Even a subject 

 so apparently insignificant as the flight of birds may open 

 the eyes to new beauties in the aspects of Nature and 

 new sources of rational delight. 



Nothing can exceed the gracefulness we observe in the 

 flight of many birds of the sea, from the Osprey, that vaults 

 in the upper region of the clouds, down to the little Sand- 

 piper, that charms the youthful sportsman by its merry 

 movements and circuitous flights. These little birds 



