284 SHORE BIRDS 



he compared the young sage-grouse. Forester says : 

 " As far as a bonne bouche for the epicure goes, this 

 plover is inferior in my judgment to no bird that flies, 

 unless it be the canvas-back duck, and there, with the 

 chancellor I doubt." As a game bird and object of 

 pursuit, I do not myself care about him. The modus 

 operandi does not suit my book or entertain me ; never- 

 theless, there is much skill displayed in circumventing, 

 or as Major Docherty would say, surrounding, this 

 wily bird ; and as frequently a very large number may 

 be brought to bag, it is with some persons a very fa- 

 vorite sport. Forester describes at length the method 

 of pursuit in Rhode Island, where the^ sportsman is 

 driven in a chaise as if to pass the birds, the vehicle 

 being driven in a circle, approaching nearer and nearer 

 until the birds are about to take wing, when the sports- 

 man steps quickly to the ground and fires as they arise. 



The upland plover is a bird of graceful outline, 

 brown in color, marked with black and buff. There is 

 but little difference in the appearance of the sexes. 

 The nest is always on the ground in the grass, and 

 there are four eggs. 



The flight of this bird is strong and swift, and, since 

 they are usually shot at long range, they are difficult 

 marks. The method of pursuit is everywhere the same, 

 the sportsman being driven in a vehicle of some kind 

 (usually a wagon, buggy, or buck-board in the West) as 

 near as possible to the game, and jumping down to 

 shoot as the birds take wing. They are sometimes 

 shot from the saddle, which, after all, is perhaps the best 

 way of pursuing them. Dogs are, of course, useless, 

 since the birds will never lie to them. 



