154 



oe:n^ithologist 



[Vol. 13-No. 10 



h.ive a spefimiMi that was sliot out of a flock of 

 Saiulpipors on the dry sand beach at Mononioy 



Isl I Sept. 10, 1SS7. Like the other Curlews, 



tliey fly hifth and swiftly, their wings moving 

 Willi gieat rapidity, and the floi'k usually takes 

 the form of the letter \' in flying, thus resem- 

 bling some of our water fowl. While in the 

 air they keep up a eimtinual whistling, which 

 is not as loud as the Hudsonian. Many writers 

 give the name by which this bird is known in 

 New England as "Doe-bird." It should be 

 written ''Dougli-biid,"' which does not change 

 the sound. The reason that it is called by this 

 a|)pellation is on account of its fatness, wliich 

 give a soft and yielding feeling, like dougli up- 

 on handling. 'I'liey are well flavored and being 

 very fat and of good size, command a i)rice 

 nearly double that of any other shore bird. 

 Gunners realize as much profit from the.se birds 

 in .several day's shooting, when they are plenty, 

 as they do in a season's shooting of other birds. 

 Black-bellied Plover, t'hnradrius squatamla, 

 (Linn.) Adults, "Black-breasts" or "Beetle- 

 heads;" young, "Beetle-heads" or "I'.ile-bel- 

 lies," on Cape Cod. A common spring and 

 abundant sunmier and autumn migrant. The 

 first ones in the spiing arrive as early as Apiil 

 loth, but are not generally seen until the last 

 week or first in May. They become tolerably 

 common May 15th, increasing until the '27lh, 

 and by this last date they have reached the 

 height of their sjn'ing migration. They are 

 rarely seen after the lUth or 1.5th of June. In 

 the summer the first birds flying south, which 

 are adults, reach the Cape the latter part of 

 July or first of August, although individuals 

 are occasionally seen as early as July 15th. 

 They increase until the middle of August, the 

 flights usually occurring from the 1st to the 

 15tli of the month. The young birds com- 

 mence to make their appearance about the mid- 

 dle of August, increasing until the middle of 

 Sei)tomber, and tlie largest flights occur be- 

 tween this date and October 15th. Most of 

 them leave by the first of November, but a few 

 small flocks remain as late as the middle of the 

 month. This bird is seldom seen on the up- 

 lands, but frequents the sand and mud flats at 

 low tide, feeding on small shell fish and aquatic 

 worms. As soon as the tide fiows over the 

 flats it lesoits to the high beaches, salt mead- 

 ows and nuirshes to wait until the next ebb 

 tide. On the marshes it finds an abundance of 

 small snails, crickets and grasshoppers. Thei'e 

 is no shoi-e bird orr the Cape so well known to 

 gunners, or so eagerly sought after, as the 

 "Black-breast," or "Beetle-head. No bird, 



however is nror-e wary than the old "Black- 

 breast," and to be successful in shooting them, 

 one must have good decoys, be well concealed 

 behind a stand or blind, and be able to imitate 

 their call note corr-ectly. Stands are built on 

 the meadows and marshes by cutting bushes of 

 about the proper height and sticking them in 

 the grass or- nrud so as to form a circle of con- 

 venient size for one or luore gunners. If 

 bushes cannot be found handily, dry seaweed, 

 gr-ass and other materials are sometimes used. 

 On the mud flats bunches of sedge grass aff'ord 

 conceahnent, but the most successful method 

 is to make a bar in the sand flats and sink a 

 box, or dig a pit in the sand. It r-e(|uires con- 

 siderable labor to build and keep a bar in order, 

 also to sink a box. The bar is laid bare before 

 any of the surrounding flats, consequently the 

 birds, finding no other feeding place uncovered, 

 fly to the bar. One other way in which lai-ge 

 numbers are sometimes taken is to find out the 

 localit}' on the high beaches where they roost 

 during high tide, and digging a hole in the sand 

 for a place of concealment. They usually come 

 to the s.-une spot to roost each high tide and by 

 examining the beach these places can be easily 

 found, by the numerous fpot prints in the sand. 

 The blind should be completed soon after the 

 tide begins to flow, as these bir-ds leave the flats 

 as soon as the tide coraniences to cover them. 

 For the young, or- "Pale-bellies," all that is 

 needed is a pit dug with the sand thrown out 

 around the top edge and a few decoys placed 

 out the right distance from the pit. For the 

 old "Black-breasts" it is necessary to have the 

 top covered over with boards and dry sand 

 spread on them and have an opening in the 

 sides and front, to shoot from. It is best not 

 to put out any decoys as the old birds will sel- 

 dom alight to decoys on the beaches, even if 

 they are made to look very natural. 



American Golden Plover, <Jharadriu!< domini- 

 ct(s, (Mull.) "Green Plover-" on Cape Cod. A 

 common summer and autumn migrant. This 

 species is very rarely seen on the Cajje in the 

 spring, and I do not know of an instance of its 

 being taken. The appearance of these birds on 

 the Cape in the summer and fall is lai'gely due 

 to the weather and winds. Large numbers 

 pass our coast from the 15th of August to the 

 last of September and whenever we have an 

 east or south-easterly storm during that period 

 some of the flocks ar-e certain to stop. The first 

 flight is looked for by the old gunners from the 

 25th to the 2;»tli of August. It bears a marked 

 resemblance in color to its cousin, the Black- 

 bellied Plover, but can always be distinguished 



