52 Bird-Lij'c ill Ldhrddor. 



display of bird intellect if ever there was aiiytliiiig of that na- 

 ture displayed in a bird. It was usually successful. The 

 cripple wino- and lan»e foot process wei-e ])riR'ticed and some- 

 times both at once. The usual method of dropping one's hat 

 where the bird first started from would not even succeed in 

 revealing to me the nest though the little ones, too im])atient 

 to remain still for any length of time, too often revealed their 

 own hiding place in their hurry to run around among the sand 

 and grasses and h'jnt for food. Tlie old birds in breeding 

 season were very tame ; we seldom molested them at this time. 

 Tlie young were remarkably pretty creatures, and had the 

 black parts of the parents rejdaced with gray. The old birds 

 were very swift runners and as sly as mice. Having run for 

 some distance they would utter a soft, ])laintive whistle or 

 j)hu-phi( and immediately take wing. Their long, angular 

 wings allowed of a swift, irregular yet not ungraceful flight, 

 with now the body and now the back turned full upon the 

 hunter. They presented tlu' ])rettiest mark for a wing shot 

 that J ever saw, next to the tern or sea swallow. In fall they 

 fly much more wildly and are then splendid practice for the 

 sportsman. I luwe wasted more charges of powder in simplv 

 practicing upon them tliau would secure a whole flock if shot 

 one bv one. When I first beoan this taroet shootino' I could 

 not hit one bird in a dozen ; after a great deal of wasting of 

 charges I f()und that by mnking my gun bai'i-el follow the de- 

 scending curve of the bird and firing the moment I fairly 

 covered him, or was ])erhaps an inch or so ahead of him (prol)- 

 ably nearer a foot), I could easily kill four (Uit of every five 

 birds. They seemed to ])refer to feed high uj) on the sand 

 flats and beaches, or, if on the mud flats, at the very edge of 

 water. They seldom gathered in flocks of any size, l)ut ap- 

 peared to me to be family parties of half-a-dozen or so. The 

 peo])le along the coast thiid-: a great deal of the bird and will 

 not allow anybody to shoot it in the breeding season. It has 

 little fear of man, often breeding within a fc'v vards of the 

 liouses. 



