A CALIFORNIA BEACH 



a sort of continuous refection, an uninterrupted 

 picnic, here a little and there a little, on strictly 

 hygienic principles, from dawn till dark. 



As is true of plovers in general, the snowy 

 (smallest of them all, as far as my acquaintance 

 with the family goes) is amazingly sudden and 

 spry in its motions, a sprinter of the first rank, 

 starting at full speed, and scampering before you, 

 head down, till its legs fairly twinkle, they move 

 so almost invisibly fast; and you are ready to 

 name it the beach-runner, as we call the big 

 ground-cuckoo of our hillsides the road-runner. 

 Make the course long enough, and the cuckoo 

 would undoubtedly come under the wire a strong 

 first; but even so a fairly liberal "time allow- 

 ance " might award the prize to the smaller con- 

 testant. Anyhow, it is sport to see the nimble 

 midgets run. 



The snowy's voice is an additional item in its 

 favor ; a sweetly musical voice, the most frequent 

 of its utterances being a quick, sudden whistle, 

 — not too loud, but full of meaning, — which after 

 a while becomes recognizable as distinct from all 

 other beach sounds, though at first hearing there 

 may seem to be nothing very characteristic about 

 it ; just as you are able as a matter of course to 

 name numbers of your friends on hearing them 

 speak the merest word or two, though for your 

 II 



