346 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



along the shores of Massachusetts. No such great flight has 

 occurred on that coast since that time. Considerable flights 

 have landed, notably in 1867, 1870, 1873, 1881, 1882, 1883 and 

 1886, but their numbers diminished until by 1901< they had 

 almost disappeared. A potent reason for this condition, as 

 given by Mackay, was the continual persecution the poor birds 

 suffered whenever and wherever they landed on our coasts. 

 Having undergone such experience they afterwards passed over 

 or by, keeping out to sea, landing only when absolutely forced 

 to do so, and leaving again the moment clearing weather ap- 

 peared. The persecution which they suffered at all times all 

 along the Atlantic coast, from Labrador to the Carolinas, must 

 have had some effect by this time in reducing their numbers, 

 but the most destructive force was spring shooting in the 

 Mississippi valley region, which developed and increased 

 with the settlement of the country. As the west became 

 settled and the railroads made the great markets accessible, 

 they were flooded during the spring, from New Orleans to 

 Chicago and St. Louis, with thousands of Golden Plover. 

 From 1860 to 1880 the species gradually diminished all over 

 the United States. The decrease of the Passenger Pigeon 

 in the markets about 1880 caused an excessive demand in 

 spring for game to take its place, and as the demand was par- 

 tially met w4th the Eskimo Curlew, so it was also in part met 

 by the Golden Plover, which continued to decrease through- 

 out its range. It was marketed in large numbers in the east 

 whenever the western market was glutted, until about 1890 or 

 1891. In 1890 alone two Boston firms received from Nebraska, 

 Missouri and Texas forty barrels closely packed with Eskimo 

 Curlew, Golden Plover and Upland Plover (see page 427). 



The Golden Plover almost disappeared from New England, 

 falling off about ninety per cent, in fifteen years. It also grew 

 rapidly less in the west, but was saved from the fate of the 

 Eskimo Curlew by the passage of laws in many western States 

 prohibiting spring Plover shooting, and forbidding the sale 

 of game or its shipment out of the State. 



Since these laws have gone into effect we have seen a slight 

 increase in the numbers of this bird on the Atlantic coast, and 



