72 FEATHERED GAME 



treating wave to seize the choice bits thrown 

 up and stranded on the edges. They run 

 nimbly and gracefully about in an eager 

 scramble for their rations, searching seaweed 

 and drift stuff for the myriad wrigglers found 

 therein. Yet, let the gunner peep ever so care- 

 fully over the edge of the bank where he lies 

 hidden and each wary feeder becomes at once 

 a motionless statue. Had he not seen their 

 animation a moment before he might think he 

 had come upon a wooden congregation of de- 

 coys. While he is still they make no move- 

 ment, but let him stir, either for nearer ap- 

 proach or to draw back from view that he may 

 get a better position, and the instant his head 

 goes out of sight behind the long salt grass 

 the flock noiselessly takes wing with easy, 

 graceful flight, alighting some hundreds of 

 yards away to feed comfortably until the dan- 

 gerous admirer, with stealthy caution and much 

 toilsome trudging through the shifting sand 

 dunes once more approaches too near for 

 safety, when the same performance again takes 

 place. It makes little difference how the ap- 

 proach is managed, the result is generally the 

 same; the gunner peers cautiously at the spot 



