THE UPLAND PLOVER 207 



down from the summer sky, makes it the most 

 difficult of all sounds to accurately locate. 



Now the sportsman's troubles commence, for 

 that one bird if it pleases (as it usually does) 

 can furnish him a whole day's "sport" by 

 tantalizingly keeping just out of range. As the 

 name indicates, they dwell mostly in the open 

 hayfields, moving on rapid feet through the 

 grass in pursuit of the insects which make their 

 principal food. In such places as these any 

 near approach to them is most difficult, as the 

 Upland, after his domestic duties are done and 

 his family is brought up, is a very shy and wary 

 bird, commonly springing up and away before 

 the gunner can get within shot reach, whistling 

 merrily his rolling, liquid note as he goes. 



Slender and graceful, long of limb, one of the 

 swiftest fliers of a fleet-winged family, the Up- 

 land has been unusually favored among our 

 dwellers of the wilderness, and comparatively 

 few of them fall a prey to the gunner. He can 

 run fast — faster than any man — and will give 

 a dog a good race. It is laughable to see a gun- 

 ner lose his breath and temper in trying to 

 catch a wounded bird. 



