38 The Water-fowl Family 



man has long since been obliged to get along 

 without the services of Dan Petty. 



BRANT-SHOOTING 



Brant are exclusively a coast bird, and never 

 occur inland ; they frequent the larger bays and 

 sounds along the coast, but have favorite stopping- 

 places on their flight to and fro from the breed- 

 ing-grounds in the remotest corners of the north. 

 Their spring flight differs somewhat from the 

 fall wintering in the brackish sounds of Vir- 

 ginia and North Carolina, when the first warm 

 winds of March warn them of approaching spring, 

 the immense hordes assembled here become rest- 

 less, small bands separate, and striking out to sea 

 begin their weary flight. From Virginia many 

 pass direct to Cape Cod ; some collect for a short 

 time in the bays of New Jersey and Long Island. 



Early in March the few brant that have win- 

 tered on Cape Cod begin to be augmented by 

 relays from the south; these come thick and 

 fast, so that by the middle of the month Chatham 

 Bay sees them in thousands ; their arrival has 

 been prepared for; all of the farther bars have 

 been fortified. In every favorite spot along their 

 course sink boxes have been placed. Wherever 

 a sand bar is exposed at high water it conceals a 

 box. These are large enough to hold three men, 

 and are supposed to be water-tight, but generally 



