PLOVER-SHOOTING. 201 



in May, do not stop to reflect on the long journey ahead 

 of our cheerful traveler; yet by June the young birds 

 are hatched, and by August or September we may see 

 the armies going south, seeking, it may be, the pampas 

 of South America, or some unknown Andean plains 

 untouched by foot of man. The migration to the North 

 is just at the heels of winter, and the birds reach us in 

 Indiana and Illinois just after the duck season has closed, 

 and when the jacksnipe are first beginning to grow scarcer. 

 Their time depends much upon the season, but the 1st of 

 May can be roughly called their date. Usually they 

 appear in good numbers along in April. They pass on 

 north gradually, and as -warm weather comes on. they 

 disappear, after affording the shooter perhaps three, four, 

 or even six weeks of sport. Before the birds have left 

 the latitude of the States named, they have paired, and 

 the females are often heavy with eggs. It is unquestion- 

 ably wrong to shoot them then, but as we have not any 

 laws adequately protecting them, that must be a question 

 for. each shooter's own conscience. May all our con- 

 sciences grow tender. 



In the fall flight, the birds do not look as they did 

 when going north. They have lost their brave black 

 breast-plate, and have taken on a paler and more mot- 

 tled color. This is noticeable not only in the young birds, 

 but also in the old ones. The brilliant black of the 

 breast is peculiar to the breeding-season, and the bird is 

 far more beautiful in spring-time, when it has on the 

 livery of love. We should respect this livery, and let 

 the little creatures love on and rear their families in 

 peace. That is all there is to life, and there is in all 

 Nature a sympathetic voice of protest against intrusion 

 or destruction then. 



There are three ways of shooting the golden plover, 

 the latter of which alone is to be held effective and 



