202 A GREAT BLUE HERON. 
otherwise, of course, had I been armed; but 
of that I felt by no means certain at the 
time, and my doubts were strengthened by 
an occurrence which happened a month or 
so afterward. 
I was crossing the beach at Nahant with 
a friend when we stole upon a pair of golden 
plovers, birds that both of us were very 
happy to see. The splendid old-gold spot- 
ting of their backs was plain enough; but 
immature black-bellied plovers are adorned 
in a similar manner, and it was necessary 
for us to see the rumps of our birds before 
we could be sure of their identity. So, 
after we had scrutinized them as long as we 
wished, I asked my companion to put them 
up while I should keep my glass upon their 
backs and make certain of the color of their 
rumps as they opened their wings. We 
were already within a very few paces of 
them, but they ran before him as he ad- 
vanced, and in the end he had almost to 
tread on them. 
The golden plover is not so unapproacha- 
ble as the great blue heron, I suppose, but 
from what sportsmen tell me about him I am 
confident that he cannot be in the habit of 
