Science: Aluminum Ring

A flock of strange, crested birds flapped jerkily, like tired oarsmen, westward from England to the Newfoundland Coast. They dropped to land, some to die immediately —bundles of white, bay and bottle green feathers. Some capered crazily on their spindly legs, soon to die with broad, round wing outstretched in a last flap and necks outstretched — like architectural ornaments. A few lived. They were lapwings, whose eggs ("plovers' eggs") British gourmets find piquant. Only in isolated cases had lapwings before been seen in North America. They are natives of northern Europe and...

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