Song Birds and Water Fowl 



have ever seen ; and there is withal a sober 

 comicality in such an impromptu scene that can 

 never be forgotten. 



But, although so conservative in behavior be- 

 fore an in-rolling wave, these creatures are not 

 at all timid, when sure of its depth ; and they 

 wade fearlessly through the pools formed in the 

 depressions of the sand, even when almost deep 

 enough for swimming. I hope these little friends 

 of mine have some poetic sense of their sur- 

 roundings, in habitually lingering by the sea ; 

 but appearances indicate that their impulse is 

 of a grosser sort, and that they are only after 

 the bodily refreshment thrown on the shore by 

 every tide. 



A curious and interesting chapter could be 

 written on the intimate connection existing be- 

 tween facts apparently standing in no kind of 

 relationship, in the economy of nature. One 

 instance of the sort would be, the purposes, 

 more numerous and important than at first 

 appears, served by the oceanic tides j one of 

 them being that, by the endless circulation 

 of the water near the shore, vegetable and 

 animal growth is both promoted and thrown 

 upon the beach, thereby maintaining the life 

 of water fowl. Marine ornithology is thus 

 176 



