SPUR-WINGED PLOVER 



CHAPTER XI 

 SEA AND SHORE BIRDS IN CAPTIVITY 



" That is the main definition of a great many birds — meant 

 ' to eat all day, chiefly grubs or grain ; not at all, unless under 

 wintry and calamitous conditions, meant to fast painfully, or be 

 in concern about their food." 



ON an island, one of a group that springs up 

 in the Atlantic off the west of England, I 

 used often to sit on fine spring days and 

 watch the sea-gulls busy with their nests. 



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