Oct. 1889.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



153 



the neighborhood, the most plentiful being 

 Harris' Finch; and by shooting a good many 

 times at them I succeeded in killing four. I 

 also noticed there Yellow-rumped, Black-poll, 

 Yellow, and Magnolia Warblers, Redstai-ts, 

 Wilson's and Gray-cheeked Thrushes, Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak, Water Thrush, Red-headed 

 Woodpecker, and others. What could attract 

 such birds as these to a grove like that I can- 

 not see, also how did they tind it? I had just 

 time to skin my Finches when dinner was 

 ready. Soon after I found the section boss, 

 and we started down the track on the veloci- 

 pede, which is a marked improvement on 

 walking, let me remark. We went out about 

 three miles to a large swamp he knew of, 

 which proved to be about a mile across with 

 weeds growing rankly all through it. 



At the discharge of a gun birds rose in my- 

 riads and literally filled the air. I don't be- 

 lieve I ever saw so many birds at once and 

 such a variety. Duck and Geese in thick 

 masses were flying excitedly about; sti-ings of 

 Swans and Pelicans left the marsh, Xight 

 Herons in long V-shaped flocks followed them, 

 bunches of Sandpipers flew by with a plaintive 

 "peep," but what interested me most were a 

 lot of large black-headed Gulls flying about; 

 they came nearer and I identified them by 

 their red bill as the rare Franklin's Gulls. 

 How I longed to get one; they are flying all 

 about uttering their shrill peculiar cry; pres- 

 ently one comes quite near, " a little closer, 

 old fellow, and you're mine," I say, but he 

 suddeiily wheeled and went back over the 

 marsh, but I sent a charge of No. 5 after him, 

 and had the satisfaction of seeing a few 

 feathers start, but he continued to fly till 

 about 150 yards from shore, when he suddenly 

 closed his wings and fell into the rice. In a 

 minute tliere were a hundred or more of his 

 fellows hovering over him. If I only had a 

 dog to go for him, or if I had dropped him 

 near shore, how many more could I have killed? 

 We stayed around for an hour or more but no 

 more gulls came in range, and we returned 

 home with a few Field Plovers, Killdeers, 

 Yellow-heads, Longspurs, and Le Contes 

 Finches. Although the marsh had plenty of 

 birds on it we could not get at them. 



The next day, the 13th, I took a horse and 

 buggy and started out in search of the swamp 

 I believed must be in a certain place on ac- 

 count of the birds flying in that direction. By 

 inquiring along the road I was gradually di- 

 rected to a large round hole about two miles 

 from town. This proved to be just what I was 



looking for, as upon drawing near I could see 

 large bunches of Snipe and Sandpipers wading 

 around in the shallow water; big, long-legged 

 Waders of different sorts were standing around. 

 One of these came flying past me; I had just 

 time to slip a shell in the gun and let him have 

 it, knocking him heels over head. The horse 

 got considerably scared, but upon being hitched 

 to a fence post soon quieted down. I picked 

 up my bird and found it to be a Great Marbled 

 Godwit. This place was nearly round and 

 about a quarter of a mile across, with little or 

 no weeds in it. About three inches of water 

 covered the black mud in a small space in the 

 centre; with rubber boots I could go in any 

 part of it. At the first shot the birds rose up, 

 but soon settled again with the exception of 

 two Sandhill Cranes and a lot of Ducks; these 

 left the place. About the first thing I did was 

 to turn loose among a lot of Sandpipers, killing 

 eleven at one shot, six Pectoral, three Semi- 

 palmated, one Least, and one AVhite-rumped. 

 By this time the birds were flying around in 

 all directions, and after gathering my birds up 

 and pvitting in a dry place I went over to 

 where some odd looking birds with a long bill 

 had settled. I found them but they flew be- 

 fore I was quite near enough. I chanced a 

 shot and winged one which proved to be the 

 Red-breasted Snipe or Western Dovvitcher. I 

 followed them up and got another shot, killing 

 two. 



I noticed a large brown-breasted bird flying 

 about, and in hopes of his coming near me I 

 slipped in two heavy loads. Pretty soon he 

 started in my direction and when quite near 

 me I knelt down on one knee and took deliber- 

 ate aim at his big breast and fired. I was sur- 

 prised at the great recoil of my gun which had 

 sent me flat on my back, fortunately I was in 

 a dry place. I did not mind the kick but 

 watched my bird and saw him tumble through 

 the smoke nearly at my feet. It was a strange 

 bird to me, but by his upturned bill I placed 

 him among the Godwits, and upon looking 

 him up in the Key I found it to be the Hud- 

 sonian or American Black-tailed Godwit. This 

 is pretty good, I thought, two kinds of Godwits 

 the second day. When I opened my gun and 

 found I had shot both barrels at once, that ac- 

 counted for the recoil. I had by this time 

 walked part way i-ound, when a large flock of 

 Golden Plover pitched down from the sky and 

 after circling around a little settled at my end. 

 There was no cover by which to approach 

 them so all I could do was to walk deliberately 

 up to them and fire as soon as they flew. This 



