64 BULLETIN 146, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Game. — The upland plover is, or was, a fine game bird. Over 40 

 years ago, in mji^ younger shooting days, these birds were still fairly 

 common in Massachusetts, but it was no easy job to make a fair day's 

 bag; it meant tramping many miles over rolling, or hilly pasture 

 lands, where the wary birds rose at long range and flew swiftly away 

 for a long distance. One had to shoot quickly and accurately to kill 

 his bird, and perhaps chase one for several miles before getting even 

 a long shot at him. It was a real sporting proposition with the 

 chances much in the bird's favor. The birds would not come to de- 

 coys, nor to the gunner's whistle and a dog was utterly useless except 

 to retrieve birds. A thorough knowledge of the ground and of the 

 birds' fly-ways sometimes brought results, when we could hide behind 

 some fence or stone v/all and wait for the birds to fly over. Even 

 meager results were well worth while, for we had plenty of good exer- 

 cise and the birds made delicious morsels for the table. 



A more common and more successful, though less sportsmanlike, 

 method of shooting them is thus described by Edwin Sandys (1904) : 



A popular method in many parts of the West is to di"lve to the birds in a 

 buckboard, or other convenient rig. For a man who can shoot well in the sitting 

 posture this is an excellent plant, as the birds almost invariably will permit a 

 wheeled conveyance to approach within comparatively easy range. A clever 

 driver is a valuable assistance. Such a man never heads his team directly at 

 the birds, but drives as though he merely intended to pass them by. A good 

 judge of distance in the open can in this way edge within comfortable range of 

 plover which, if the driver steered straight for them, or with the gun attempted 

 to dismount and stalk, would at once make off. I have varied the shooting from 

 the seat by walking at the horse's shoulders. The plover do not appear to notice 

 the extra pair of legs. This sometimes gives the prettiest kind of shooting. All 

 one has to do is to judge when sufficiently close, then stand still with the gun 

 at the ready, while the team moves steadily ahead. Usually the plover will 

 take wing the moment the foot-man is uncovered ; but should they not, the man 

 can gain a few yards by briskly walking toward them. I have occasionally 

 stalked them by keeping close to the shoulder of a steady old horse that was 

 indifferent in the matters of smoke and loud reports. 



Edward H. Forbush (1912) writes: 



About 1880, when the supply of passenger pigeons began to fail, and the mar- 

 ketmen, looking about for some other game for the table of the epicure in spring 

 and summer, called for plover, the destruction of the upland plover began in 

 earnest. The price increased. In the spring migration the birds were met by 

 a horde of market gunners, shot, packed in barrels and shipped to the cities. 

 There are tales of special refrigerator cars sent out to the prairie regions, and 

 parties of gunners regularly employed to follow the birds and ship plover and 

 curlews by the carload to the Chicago market. These may not be based on facts, 

 but we know that the birds came to market in great quantities. 



'Winter. — The upland plover spends our winter months on the 

 pampas of Argentina and Patagonia, where unfortunately it is more 



