PLOVER-SHOOTING. 215 



wantonly cruel animal, they are easily approachable, and 

 may easily be knocked down by a moderately skillful 

 shot. I have even heard of their being shot on the 

 ground by some persons, although I do not believe that 

 there is any foolish butcher so self-distrustful of his skill 

 as to creep up on this open-minded little bird and shoot 

 it with a shot-gun before it has taken wing. The man 

 who would do that would steal. Investigation will show 

 the truth of this assertion. Even an indifferent wing- 

 shot may bag fifty, sixty, or even 100 plovers a day 

 on a country thickly occupied by them, as often hap- 

 pens. Such shooting as this does not appeal to the 

 thorough sportsman. 



"It sometimes happens, however, that these long-legged 

 little fellows acquire a certain shrewdness of their own, 

 which makes their capture by no means a foregone con- 

 clusion. They will take a long spurt across the field or 

 prairie, fairly making their slender legs twinkle as the'y 

 sprint along ahead of the shooter; then they will 

 straighten up, look around, and if they think the shooter 

 is getting too close, will take wing, with a nonchalant 

 ' Oh, quit! quit!' In such a flight, they skim along close 

 to the ground. They go a pretty good pace, and the gun- 

 ner who jumps one at forty yards rise is by no means 

 certain of knocking it down. 



" The proper gun for upland plover shooting would be 

 a 16-gauge, if we shot that gun very much in this country, 

 or if we could all afford to have as many guns as we 

 liked. Barring that, the 12-gauge, that best of all guns 

 for an all-around weapon, will do only too well. The 

 size of shot is naturally No. 8, and the powder charge 

 should not be over three drams. Of course, there will be 

 some shooters who will hunt plovers with duck-guns and 

 duck-loads, but such fellows want the earth, and are afraid 

 some of it will get away. They are the kicking brethren. 



