212 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



of melted vocal pearls out of some unidentified corner of 

 the sky. This 'whistle' of the upland plover though 

 it is not more a whistle than the softest breathings of the 

 flute is the purest and sweetest, the most inimitable 

 and unapproachable sound in Nature. As the note of the 

 mourning-dove is the very soul of melancholy grief, the 

 likeness of the plaint of widowed woe, so may this trans- 

 lucent, innocent sound, so light that you can see through 

 it, almost, and sweet as the dew that hangs on any honey- 

 vine, be likened to the careless and unsyllabled laugh of 

 a virgin soul, too young to think of widows or of brides. 

 It is so very sweet that Nature, always fit and proper in 

 her ways, surrounds it with mystery, so that on a bright, 

 warm day of spring, when one hears this gentle, spark- 

 ling sound bubble out of the blue sky, apparently just 

 above his head, he may look up and see no bird, and may 

 further look about him on all hands, examining earth 

 and sky alike, and yet find no trace of the origin of the 

 winged music. At last there may be the flit of a gray 

 wing across a half -section of plowed ground, and finally 

 he may see this feathered ghost alight yet farther away, 

 tossing both wings apeak high over its head, and utter- 

 ing a shrill, joyful 'wy-ee-ee,' which may be heard a mile. 

 " When the migrating birds alight, as they do pretty 

 much all through the wilder prairie sections of Missouri, 

 Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and kindred States, they usually 

 overrun the country very rapidly, so that a locality unten- 

 anted by them one day may on the day following be fairly 

 swarming with them. They do not affect low, marshy 

 grounds, as their cousins in the long-legged family, the 

 snipe, but keep up on the high prairies, being especially 

 fond of ground that has been recently burned over. If 

 there are any plovers in the country, they are pretty sure 

 to make their appearance on or near such a strip of 

 ground. They are also partial to good, soft, warm, 



