124 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



slight rudiments of a heel, the outer toe con- 

 nected, as far as the first joint, with the middle 

 one. 



"The male and female differ very little in 

 color." 



This is also a handsomely marked and delicate 

 bird for the table. It is, however, never seen far 

 inland in the United States, but chiefly frequents 

 the sea-coast, and the flat shores of such large 

 rivers as flow uninterruptedly into the ocean. 

 It is very common in the northern parts of 

 Europe, where it breeds on high and heathy 

 mountains. In North America it is supposed 

 to rear its young in the remote, Artie regions, 

 where the ground is more open and solitary, and 

 less covered with forests. Small flocks have, 

 occasionally, been seen for a day or two in Mont- 

 gomery county, whither they have been driven 

 by the September gales. 



They are killed in September and October 

 along the Delaware and its tributaries, and 

 underline skilful guidance of Westley Stints- 

 man, the renowned paddler, we have sometimes 

 surprised and effected considerable execution 

 among flocks seated on the edges of ditches and 

 ponds on the meadows near the mouth of the 

 Schuylkill. The mode of approaching them is 



