320 SHORE BIRDS 



Northern Indiana and in Western Kansas. Nelson 

 says it is the most common species in Northern Illinois, 

 frequenting grassy marshes and low prairies, and is 

 not exceeded in number even by the ever-present 

 spotted sandpiper. While it was one of the most com- 

 mon birds in the Calumet region it is now becoming 

 scarce. 



There is little or nothing in the books about phala- 

 ropes as objects of pursuit or as food. A recent writer 

 in a magazine says, " Although these birds do not come 

 distinctly within the limits of my definition of game, I 

 never saw a sportsman who would not shoot one, and 

 should consider him lacking in mental capacity if he 

 did not." This may all be well enough on the Massa- 

 chusetts coast, but it is not so in Dakota, where the 

 ducks and geese are sufficiently abundant to call forth 

 the humorous statement in a local paper that their 

 shadows interfered with the growth of the crops. 



For my part I should be willing to see these pretty 

 little birds legally excluded from the game list and 

 left to pursue their strange courtship and rear their 

 young beside the ponds, and to swim about on the 

 water and feed along the shores. 



