2 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
couple of pair of Redbill, a few Kittywakes, and 
a few Black-backed Gulls. On snags embedded 
in mud, Black Shag were conspicuous ; about the 
open sands rested armies of Grey Duck, well out 
of reach of marauders. 
At that date the pair of Caspian Tern were the 
only two birds out of the lot definitely purposing 
to build. Probably they had just settled down ; 
probably, too, the additional pairs noticed later 
were due to arrive within a few days. The Black- 
backed Gulls were doubtless residenters; the 
remaining species were in all likelihood made up 
of wandering parties, one of them, the Godwit, 
rarely, if indeed ever, breeding in New Zealand ; 
another, the Wrybill—not believed to nest in the 
North Island. Watching the last-named feeding 
in the gleaming sands freshly uncovered by the 
retreating tide, it was interesting to speculate as 
to whether the sweeping scythe-like action in 
feeding, a skimming of the surface of the wet 
sand, had helped to modify the remarkable crooked 
bill of the species, or had been adopted in conse- 
quence of it. 
A month later in the year during a second 
visit to these delightful beaches we found Wrybill 
and Godwit gone, Caspian Tern sitting, and 
Redbills courting. | 
1 No more striking example perhaps could be cited of the danger- 
ous adaptability of the feeding habits of birds than that of the 
