188 BULLETIN 14 6^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



US. They usually will not pay so much attention to the decoys or call whistle as 

 do the old birds; and I have seen them, when very shy and after being dis- 

 turbed, mount up into the air and nearly turn over on their backs while 

 flying with great velocity. It is a noteworthy fact that when a flock of these 

 young birds is approaching no dependence can be placed on their movements. 

 They may sometimes sweep down within a few yards of the sportsman, passing 

 with great rapidity over his head, all scattered ; or down close to the stand 

 and then up into the air; or they may turn suddenly. My experience has 

 taught me not to wait, as is my custom with the older birds, to get them 

 together before shooting, but fire at them whenever and wherever I can if 

 they are within range. The older birds rarely indulge in any similar antics. 



During the days of spring shooting in the west golden plover 

 were often shot, without decoj^s, by making a blind or selecting some 

 natural hiding place within their regular fly ways, which were gen- 

 erally quite well established and known. It was always difficult to 

 stalk them on foot, but where there were no fences they could be 

 stalked successfully by a hunter on horseback or in a wagon. 



Winter. — The golden plover arrive in their winter home early in 

 September, or rarely late in August, where they remain until Feb- 

 ruary or March. W. H. Hudson (1920) writing of the days when 

 these birds were plentiful, says : 



The American golden plover is abundant and well known to every one by 

 its native name, Chorlo, throughout southern Argentina. Its wild, clear notes 

 are first heard about the last week in August, and among the first comers 

 many individuals are seen still wearing the nuptial dress. After their long 

 journey from the Arctic regions they are lean and not worth shooting ; two 

 months later they become excessively fat, and are then much appreciated by 

 gourmets. But although so regular in their arrival, they do not regularly 

 visit the same localities every season ; the bird may be abundant in a place 

 one year and scarce or absent altogether the next. During the spring, from 

 September to December, they prefer open plains with short grass and in the 

 neighborhood of wet or marshy ground ; at the end of December, when the 

 giant thistle (Garduus mariana), which often covers large areas of country, 

 has been burnt up by the sun and blown to the ground, they scatter about 

 a great deal in flocks of from one to four or five hundred. At noon, however, 

 they all resort to a lagoon or marshy place containing water, congregating 

 day after -day in such numbers that they blacken the ground over an area 

 of several acres in extent, and at a distance of a quarter of a mile the din of 

 their united voices resembles the roar of a cataract. As population increases 

 on the pampas these stupendous gatherings are becoming more and more rare. 

 Twenty-five years ago it was an exceptional thing for a man to possess a 

 gun, or to use one when he had it ; and if Chorlos were wanted a gaucho boy 

 with a string a yard long with a ball of lead attached to each end could knock 

 down as many as he liked. I have killed them in this way myself, also with 

 the bola perdida — a ball at the end of a long string thrown at random into 

 a cloud of birds. 



Doctor Wetmore (192G) saw golden plover on migration in Para- 

 guay during September; they "came to the open shores of lagoons 

 with other sandpipers, but were more often seen in flocks of 30 or 

 40 scattered over open savannas where the grass was not too long." 



