8 A BIRD! COLLECTOR'S MEDIERY: 
that there was reason in his words, and it transpired that the speaker had 
espied my dummies, and, mistaking them for real birds, had been engaged 
in stalking them under cover of the very bushes which formed the central 
figure in my ambuscade, so that I probably owe it to the afore-mentioned 
Whimbrel that I did not present a carnal impediment to a considerable portion 
of his charge. 
After doing the saltings with thoroughness, it is a good plan to return home 
along the edge of the sea, for, though shingle will never provide so many shots 
as mud, the very first-rate shore birds are most often found on it, or by the side 
of brackish pools not actually in the marsh. It was in Norfolk, on a strip of 
most uninviting shingle, frequented only by the Common Tern, that I once 
came across that rare American visitant the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 
On September 8th, 1899, I was crossing this shingle on my way from 
the estuary to the bar, when a strange Wader, which had presumably been 
testing the efficacy of protective coloration, got up almost beneath my feet 
and slowly flapped along the beach. Its sandy colour suggested an autumn 
Dotterel as it rose, so I fired and knocked it over. As I drew near I thought 
I had bagged a Reeve, but in the hand it was at once distinguishable by the 
beautiful marble-like tracery on the under wing. It was my first really rare 
Wader, and I shall never forget my sensations. The wind at the time was 
north-west, and the weather fine; but we had had a wet south-east wind for 
the preceding forty-eight hours. The best account of this species is to be 
found in Mr. D. G. Elliott’s ‘North American Shore Birds.’ It is therein 
stated that the bird prefers fields and grassy plains rather than wet and 
swampy lands. He adds that in the breeding season the males are wont to 
walk about with one wing extended high in the air. ‘They also spar like 
fighting cocks, and then tower for about thirty feet with hanging legs. 
One such rencontre being worth more than fifty ordinary shots, the 
collector will do well not to despise the apparent barrenness of the shore 
proper, where he will also have the chance of securing a rarity amongst those 
passing migrants which skirt without actually stopping on the beach. Here 
we may get a glimpse of the Purple Sandpiper hurrying towards some rockier 
resort, or the Oystercatcher making for his favourite mussel bed, or some 
Grebe, perchance an Eared or Sclavonian, drifting lazily in with the flowing 
tide. 
The shore shooter who has not obtained leave to go on the marshes 
inside the sea-wall will find that his best chance of securing a Dotterel is on 
shingle rather than on mud, and the chance will be a good one if the shingle 
happens to be dotted with rough rabbit-used turf. In September, immature 
