BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 305 



until many had paid the penalty of their sympathetic concern. 

 Of late years at those same ponds a single bird or a pair is 

 seen occasionally, but the flocks are gone, perhaps never to 

 return, l^nlike its larger relative this species is seen very 

 rarely within our limits in the spring. Sometimes in fall the 

 flight along Cape Cod is very large, but in spring most of the 

 birds of this species go north through the interior. The fall 

 flight seems to trend mainly southeastward, in the direction of 

 South America. Large flights pass out to sea, no doubt follow- 

 ing the route of the Golden Plover, some possibly going directly 

 from Nova Scotia to the Lesser Antilles. Others, perhaps, 

 pass down the coast to the southern States, and from there, 

 undertake a shorter flight to the southern continent. But 

 the numbers of those taking this route have been so decimated 

 that they are now comparatively few. Greater flights pass the 

 Bermudas, where they formerly sometimes landed if beset 

 by adverse winds. These flights probably do not land on our 

 coasts except when driven here by easterly winds. Strong 

 westerly or northwesterly winds sometimes seem to bring to 

 our shores a flight from farther west. The Summer Yellow- 

 legs once remained here all summer, but was not known to 

 breed. Its habits are similar to those of the Greater Yellow- 

 legs, and it feeds largely on insects, including ants. 



