OXBIRD. 207 



train of scearl*, corn, or chaff, within shot of some 

 hedge or place that you can walk to unseen, and 

 occasionally give them a sweeping. 



OXBIRD, PURRE, or STINT. Tringa cinclus 

 L'aloutte de mer. 



To get a shot among the clouds of oxbirds, which 

 frequent the shores, go in your canoe, and either take 

 them on the mud from a creek at low water, or on a 

 gravelly point at high water. A white frost is the 

 best time for this, and they are then most commonly 

 interspersed with gray plover. 



Oxbirds are sometimes so tame in windy weather, 

 about the month of August, that, at high water, you 

 may walk along the beach, and shoot them openly 

 with a little double gun. Perhaps, after killing a 

 dozen with your first barrel, the remainder of the 

 flock will pitch among them, and present a shot 

 equally good for your second. But these are no 

 doubt mostly young birds, that have just flown, as 

 the oxbirds are, in general, difficult of access ; and 

 (like most other birds) the larger their flock, the 

 wore difficult it is to be approached. 



The oxbird belongs to the tribe of sand pipers. 

 Of these, including the ruff (the female of which is 

 called reeve), there are fifteen sorts : but, as they 

 scarcely afford any particular sport, it will be wasting 



* A provincial term for those light seeds, that fall through the 

 rudder, when cleaning the wheat, and of which the small birds 

 are particularly fond. 



