Shore Birds. 



Their bill is lon£ 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 ranked as 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 oesophagus with air dilating the skin of the neck and 

 breast and forming a sack as large as the body. Then in the 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 beauli 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 a small 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 Limicolae, 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. 



101 



