56 Sporting Sketches 



and from north to south, and in the first testing to 

 prove their teacher true and kind. 



For ages the rivers of nervous life have flowed to 

 and fro atween shadowy banks with unfailing regu- 

 larity as the ordained seasons change. In the soft 

 spring nights the hurrying pilgrims pass unseen, 

 but earthward from the trails sink sounds of life at 

 speed. The hum and hiss and flick of busy wings, 

 the queries of many tongues questioning and an- 

 swering anent the way, fall in musical whispers upon 

 the trained ear of science hid in the blackness far 

 below, and tell who press the trails so fast, from 

 whence and whither bound. 



There are other trails than those above the re- 

 gion of the Great Lakes. East and west, above 

 Atlantic and Pacific shores, above the great plains 

 and forests, are trails traversed by their own multi- 

 tudes convenient routes for feathered offspring 

 of certain sections of country. The peoples that 

 swarmed these many trails in the past and unfor- 

 tunately only traverse them in decreased numbers 

 now, represent mainly the two great orders of bird- 

 dom, the Grallatores and Natatores ; in plain 

 North American, the tribes of waders and of swim- 

 mers. Nearly all the species embraced within the 

 two orders are considered worthy victims for the 

 true nimrod's weapon, and it is to be regretted that 

 to the sport-affording and edible qualities of many 

 of them must be attributed their present scarcity in 

 districts where not many years ago they absolutely 

 swarmed during their periods^ of migration. The 

 order of Grallatores comprises" such families as the 

 herons, cranes, bitterns, snipes, plovers, phalaropes, 



