The next day the other bird was worked into a fine 

 stew and well cooked. When served the stew was fine. 

 The dumplings were light and fairly melted in our 

 mouths; the red peppers were hot; the aroma of onions 

 was just of that degree to suggest the ambrosia of the 

 gods; but the swan! Well, the hounds ate it through 

 the compulsion of hunger. 



A half-grown swan, however, is very good eating. 



There is very little difference in the two varities. The 

 whistling swan being more of a northern bird, rarely 

 migrating as far south as central California. About the 

 only noticeable difference is that the whistling swan 

 has a small yellow spot at the V-shaped point of the bill 

 where it meets the eye. 



THE WADERS AND 

 SHORE BIRDS 



The Pacific Coast is especially rich in waders and 

 shore birds, there being upwards of forty species that 

 are more or less common, with some ten or more that 

 are occasional visitors. Of these few can be consid- 

 ered game birds, while others are so small that they are 

 rarely shot by our sportsmen. Many of both the waders 

 and the shore birds are constant residents. Others 

 come from still farther south for breeding purposes, 

 while still others breed north of us and migrate through- 

 out the territorial scope of these articles to spend their 

 winters. 



The shore birds, while very common, are hunted but 

 little by the sportsmen of this region, and many of the 

 smaller species that are considered quite a delicacy by 

 our eastern brethren are passed by entirely by our lov- 

 ers of the gun. The reasons for this will be obvious to 

 all who have read the preceding pages and noted the 

 abundance and great variety of larger and better game. 

 By better game I mean birds that furnish better sport 

 by requiring more skill in approaching them and better 

 markmanship in bringing them to bag. The little moun- 

 tain plover, of the southern part of the Coast, while not 

 surpassed even by the jack snipe as a table delicacy, 

 are hunted but little, even where they are very abun- 

 dant, because there is little sport to be had in shooting 

 them. And the same is true, in a great measure, of 

 several other species. Sportsmen, therefore, are little 

 acquainted with .these birds.. either as to their names,, 

 gastronomic merits or means of identification. ...'.'. 

 106 



