BAY BIRDS. 333 



gated with twany and white; the under parts are a pale 

 tawny; the breast and sides are marked with bars and ar- 

 rowheads of black; and the legs and bill are pale. This 

 is considered one of the best game birds of its order, 

 owing to the delicacy of its flesh; hence it is eagerly 

 sought by all lovers of the gun. It is a resident of the 

 high plains of the West, as it finds an abundance of food 

 in the numerous and juicy grasshoppers which freciuent 

 that section. It moves in large flocks, and as it breeds 

 throughout the country, it may be met with from Cana- 

 da to the Southern States. Its notes are soft and j^leas- 



ant as it goes 



" Wild whistling o'er the hiU " 



in September and October, when it is so fat that it might 

 be compared to a ball of butter. It is cunning and cau- 

 tious in the autumn, and readily recognizes a man witli a 

 gun, but it is less wary in spring after its return from the 

 South. The best way of making a large bag of upland 

 plovers is to drive towards them with a horse and car- 

 riage, not directly, however, but parallel with them, 

 and shoot the moment the animal stops, or else to place 

 a companion in the most convenient cover and drive them 

 in his direction. Both may get shots by this means. 

 Tlie birds fly in rather open order when alarmed, and 

 very rapidly, so •that they get out of harm's way in a 

 short time. 



The ruff-breasted sand-piper {Tryngites rufescens), 

 which looks hke the preceding, but is much smaller, is 

 scattered over the open regions of the Continent. The 

 spotted sand-piper, teeter, peetweet, or sand-lark [Trin- 

 goicles macularius), is very abundant along the sea-shore. 

 It generally travels in small wings numbering from four 

 to sixteen. The adult is of an olive hue above, with a 

 coppery lustre, and a pure white below, the throat and 

 breast being dotted with black markings. The sandor- 

 ling, or ruddy plover {Calidris arenaria), which is usu- 



