22 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



must be the ist of September, his look became still more serious, and, 

 gathering the whole family together, he proceeded to give us what he said 

 might prove useful information. 



"To-morrow," he began, "will come the shooters, and it will be a 

 dangerous day for all of us. Still we Dunlins need not be so much afraid as 

 some. We are neither large enough nor toothsome enough to provide a meal 

 for the pot-hunter, who, though he may rake a flock of our larger and more 

 numerous cousins with an eye to a pie, will hardly think us worth a cartridge, 

 if we rise singly. We have most to dread from schoolboys out for the first 

 time, and from the collectors I mean the more dull-visioned collectors ; there 

 are many who shoot at all single waders in the hope of getting an American 

 stray, and we, being smaller and brighter than ordinary Dunlins, maybe easily 

 mistaken for something rare. I advise you if you do get cornered by a 

 collector you can generally tell them by their field-glasses to rise quite 

 slowly, and utter our note as distinctly and as soon as you can ; their ears may 

 be better than their eyes, and the note may save you. As for schoolboys, 

 heaven help you ! if you meet any of them. Two of them pursued my wife 

 last year with such inconsiderate ardour, that when they fired, the greater 

 portion of the charge, after missing her, fairly smothered a collector, who was 

 coming the other way. Poor fellow ! After the dose he went and sat down 

 for nearly half-an-hour on a buoy to recover his senses, and then limped 

 painfully home ; I felt quite sorry for him. But above all things keep clear of 

 the professor ; neither note nor plumage will avail you there. Did he not in 

 one day slaughter eighty Redstarts in the hope of killing a Bluethroat 

 amongst them ? " 



This sort of talk was not such as to make one look forward to the morrow, 

 and I think we all passed a somewhat agitated night. I dreamt about that 

 poor collector that the boys potted, and wondered how it felt. Long before 

 sunrise I was awake, and drawn by some irresistible attraction I made my 

 way to the smack to have a look at my friends the Turnstones. There they 

 were, quite a dozen of them, just awakening from their slumbers and 

 preparing to get their breakfast among the stones. The sun rose, and shortly 

 afterwards a commotion was observable on the smack, and mindful of father's 

 warning I flew off at once to a more distant bank, vainly trying to warn the 

 Turnstones as I did so. From here I watched six figures carrying guns, and 

 one bearing a sack, creep cautiously off the boat and steal towards the 

 unsuspecting flock. Bang ! bang ! again and again went the guns ; the work 

 of destruction had begun. Six out of the dozen already lay dead or dying on 

 the sand ; four more shared the same fate as they flew wildly round the slain. 



