shore bird, common name for members of the large order Charadriiformes, which includes birds found on coasts and beaches throughout the world. Included in this group are the avocet, curlew, oyster catcher, phalarope, plover, sandpiper, snipe, and stilt. The similarity and close relationship of these birds is illustrated by the surf birds, which are also called plover-billed turnstones and are considered by some to be intermediate between plovers and turnstones and by others to be most closely allied to the sandpipers. The godwits, which migrate from subarctic regions S to Africa and Australia, are related to the curlews but resemble the phalaropes in their breeding and nesting habits. Shore birds in general are shy, inconspicuously marked birds with long, slender bills for probing the sand or mud for food and relatively long, strong legs for wading and running. The order Charadriiformes is classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves.

shore: see coast; beach.

Shore, Jane, or Elizabeth Shore, d. 1527?, mistress of Edward IV of England. The wife of William Shore, a goldsmith, she became c.1470 mistress to Edward IV and exerted a great influence over the king. After Edward's death (1483) she became the mistress of Thomas Grey, 1st marquess of Dorset, and then of Lord Hastings. Probably only out of political motives, she was accused of sorcery (1483) by Richard III, placed in the Tower of London, and later forced to do public penance as a harlot. Her great beauty attracted the king's solicitor, Thomas Lynon, but their proposed marriage failed to come about, and Jane died in poverty. Her life was the subject of Nicholas Rowe's Tragedy of Jane Shore (1714).

Bay Shore, uninc. village (1990 pop. 21,279), Islip town, Suffolk co., SE N.Y., on the south shore of Long Island, at the widest point of Great South Bay; founded 1708. A long-time fishing and duck-hunting center, it is a retail hub and a gateway (by ferry) to Fire Island.

or shore

Broad area of land that borders the sea. The coastlines of the world's continents measure about 193,000 mi (312,000 km). They have undergone shifts in position and changes in shape over geologic time because of substantial changes in the relative levels of land and sea. Other factors that alter coasts are erosion processes such as wave action and weathering, deposition of rock debris by currents, and tectonic activity. Coastal features result largely from the interaction and relative intensity of these processes, though the type and structure of the underlying rocks also play a part.

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or Miskito Coast

Region along the coast of eastern Nicaragua and Honduras. It comprises a lowland about 40 mi (65 km) wide that skirts the Caribbean Sea for about 225 mi (360 km). It was visited by Christopher Columbus in 1502, but Europeans had little contact with the area until the rise of the buccaneers in the 17th century, after which England established a protectorate there. It is named for the Miskito Indians. Spain, Nicaragua, and the U.S. disputed England's protectorate until the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850). In 1894 the region was incorporated into Nicaragua, but the northern part was granted to Honduras in 1960 by the International Court of Justice. The chief town is Bluefields, at the mouth of the Escondido River in Nicaragua.

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Region, southwestern coast of India, stretching from the Western Ghats to the Arabian Sea. It now includes most of Kerala state and the coastal region of Karnataka state. It has sometimes been used to refer to the entire western coast of peninsular India. A large part of it was within the ancient kingdom of Keralaputra. The Portuguese established trading posts there; they were followed by the Dutch in the 17th century and the French in the 18th century. The British gained control of the region in the late 18th century.

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Section of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, western Africa. Extending approximately from Axim, Ghana, in the west to the Volta River in the east, it was so called because it was an important source of gold. It was an area of intense colonial rivalry from the 17th century. Acquired as a colony by the British in the 19th century and named the Gold Coast, the area achieved independence as the Republic of Ghana in 1957.

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Mediterranean coastal region, North Africa. It extends from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean. Once part of Roman Africa, the region was overrun by Vandals in the 5th century AD. Reconquered by the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) circa AD 533, it was overcome by Arabs during the 7th century and was eventually broken up into the independent Muslim polities known collectively as the Barbary states (Morocco, Algeria [Algiers], Tunisia [Tunis], and Libya [Tripoli]). For centuries the coast was notorious as a haven for pirates, who ravaged shipping and collected tribute from European states. After the U.S. war with Tripoli (see Tripolitan War), the U.S. expedition to Algiers (1815), and the bombardment of Algiers by the British (1816), the pirates ceased exacting tribute.

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