fluttered about and below, making attacks on their big 
enemy, as he stood on guard, or wiped his thieving bill free 
from what looked like the remains of broken egg. If the 
rascal ventured into the air he was immediately surrounded — 
- by a scolding, attacking bunch of blackbirds, until he sought — } 
. safety in the thickest branch of foliage that he could find, 
where he dared them to come near, and, as eagerly as a 
~ gmall boy, they took his dare. The fight was still on when — 
the watchers left the battle-ground to wander down the | 
winding road for other adventures. | 
On this same beach once lived a white crow, Shich often 
flew in the front of its particular group of crows and ~ 
gathered its food with its companions and the gulls. It @ 
seemed to be an especial friend of all the birds, for they — 
stopped their hunting many times a day to group themselves _ 
about it. These crows spent their nights in the branches of | | 
a fir tree near a small cottage and their morning greetings — 
annoyed the owners, who finally shot the white crow. As 
an excuse for this murder they said, “Each crow in the © 
whole flock seemed to think it necessary to talk over the — 
day’s plans with that white crow and to dee any sleep after — 
oO daylight we had to kill it. ‘cs 
While watching ‘gulls on quiet shores flocks ot birds - 
may attract attention by their small size, large numbers, — 
| and active motions. They are about the size of an English 
_ sparrow but they have white lower parts streaked with — 
v-shaped black spots, long slender, straight bills, and legs 
with partly webbed toes. There may be fifty to a hundred 
of these birds together, but when the notion strikes them, 
they fly as one creature, darting back and forth over the : 
surface of the water, or down upon the sand, where their © 
elfin ealls of ‘“‘Peet! Peet!” may tell an observer that he is 
watching the Western Sandpipers. They seem to play tag 
with the waves as they hunt for sand fleas and other food © 
| along the water’s edge, and to mind getting wet feet no 
sa 
