62 Waterfowl. 



side, where they will light and run rapidly through the 

 grass ; and in this manner they will sometimes accompany 

 a hunter or traveller for miles, scaring off all game. By 

 the end of July or August they have reared their young; 

 they then go in small flocks, are comparatively silent, 

 and are very good eating. I have never made a prac- 

 tice of shooting them, though I have fired at them some- 

 times with the rifle, and in this way have now and then 

 killed one ; twice I have hit them on the wing with 

 this weapon, while they were soaring slowly about above 

 me, occasionally passing pretty near. 



The grass plover is found in the same places as 

 the curlew, and like it breeds with us. Its flesh is just as 

 good, and it has somewhat the same habits ; but is less 

 wary, noisy, and inquisitive. The golden plover is only 

 found during the migrations, when large flocks may some- 

 times be seen. They are delicious eating ; the only ones 

 I have ever shot have been killed with the little ranch 

 gun, when riding round the ranch, or travelling from one 

 point to another. 



Like the grouse, and other ground-nesting birds, 

 the curlews and plovers during breeding-time have for 

 their chief foes the coyotes, badgers, skunks, and other 

 flesh-eating prowlers ; and as all these are greatly thinned 

 off by the cattle-men, with their fire-arms and their infi- 

 nitely more deadly poison, the partial and light settlement 

 of the country that accompanies the cattle industry has 

 had the effect of making all these birds more plentiful 

 than before ; and most unlike the large game, game birds 

 bid fair to increase in numbers during the next few years. 



