164 FEATHEEED GAME 



shores of the outer islands where he has no 

 company but the swash of the waves and the 

 seething hiss of driving snow as it is swallowed 

 up in the sea is the Purple Sandpiper at home. 

 Hardy indeed is he and no stress of weather 

 seems to trouble him. He is the only resident 

 awake when the sleepy prowler, planning death 

 and destruction to the sea ducks, is headed for 

 his hiding place among the rocks, and in the 

 gray mist rising from the ocean he looks to the 

 heavy eyes of the gunner almost as large as a 

 duck himself. 



Easy of approach and fearless because seldom 

 molested, since on account of timing their visits 

 to our coasts during the winter season the shore- 

 bird shooter entirely misses seeing them and 

 the winter gunner is after larger game, they 

 pay little heed to an approaching boat. A gen- 

 erous supply of suitable clothing keeps them 

 comfortable in any weather. They may be seen 

 dozing complacently in the sun on a winter af- 

 ternoon when the mercury has gone down out of 

 sight in the glass, for their homes and chosen 

 haunts are in the north, and only the closing 

 up of those waters by the winter's ice forces 

 them into our latitudes at all. 



This " hardy Norseman" has the figure of the 



