8 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



that there was reason in his words, and it transpired that the speaker had 

 espied my dummies, and, mistaking them for real birds, had been engaged 

 in stalking them under cover of the very bushes which formed the central 

 figure in my ambuscade, so that I probably owe it to the afore-mentioned 

 Whimbrel that I did not present a carnal impediment to a considerable portion 

 of his charge. 



After doing the saltings with thoroughness, it is a good plan to return home 

 along the edge of the sea, for, though shingle will never provide so many shots 

 as mud, the very first-rate shore birds are most often found on it, or by the side 

 of brackish pools not actually in the marsh. It was in Norfolk, on a strip of 

 most uninviting shingle, frequented only by the Common Tern, that I once 

 came across that rare American visitant the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 



On September 8th, 1899, I was crossing this shingle on my way from 

 the estuary to the bar, when a strange Wader, which had presumably been 

 testing the efficacy of protective coloration, got up almost beneath my feet 

 and slowly flapped along the beach. Its sandy colour suggested an autumn 

 Dotterel as it rose, so I fired and knocked it over. As I drew near I thought 

 I had bagged a Reeve, but in the hand it was at once distinguishable by the 

 beautiful marble-like tracery on the under wing. It was my first really rare 

 Wader, and I shall never forget my sensations. The wind at the time was 

 north-west, and the weather fine; but we had had a wet south-east wind for 

 the preceding forty-eight hours. The best account of this species is to be 

 found in Mr. D. G. Elliott's ' North American Shore Birds.' It is therein 

 stated that the bird prefers fields and grassy plains rather than wet and 

 swampy lands. He adds that in the breeding season the males are wont to 

 walk about with one wing extended high in the air. They also spar like 

 fighting cocks, and then tower for about thirty feet with hanging legs. 



One such rencontre being worth more than fifty ordinary shots, the 

 collector will do well not to despise the apparent barrenness of the shore 

 proper, where he will also have the chance of securing a rarity amongst those 

 passing migrants which skirt without actually stopping on the beach. Here 

 we may get a glimpse of the Purple Sandpiper hurrying towards some rockier 

 resort, or the Oystercatcher making for his favourite mussel bed, or some 

 Grebe, perchance an Eared or Sclavonian, drifting lazily in with the flowing 

 tide. 



The shore shooter who has not obtained leave to go on the marshes 

 inside the sea-wall will find that his best chance of securing a Dotterel is on 

 shingle rather than on mud, and the chance will be a good one if the shingle 

 happens to be dotted with rough rabbit-used turf. In September, immature 



