There are three major families of shorebirds: 1  Waders, about 220 species, include sandpipers, lapwings, snipes, plovers, stilts and various other species. These birds inhabit coasts and shorelines, as well as other open habitats. 2  Gulls, terns, skuas, jaegers and skimmers form a group of a little over 100 species.
The compass was probably invented in the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) by Chinese fortune-tellers who used the lodestones to construct their fortune telling boards.
Used in Ancient China as early as the Qin dynasty (221 BCE â 207 BCE) or before, Chinese compasses were invented for more than just helping people find their way when traveling. Compasses were originally developed for aligning buildings with directions (north, south, east or west), and as a tool used in fortune telling.