306 SHORE BIRDS 



than the other wading birds excepting the dunlin, he 

 is a good mark and is very good to eat. He feeds in 

 the salt meadows, lies to the dog, and can be walked 

 up and flushed like upland birds, a game-like quality 

 sufficient to admit him to the list. Audubon pro- 

 nounces his flesh juicy and well-flavored. When pro- 

 cured late in the season, he says, " I think it superior 

 to any of our shore birds, and I have partaken of it 

 when I have thought it equal to any of our upland 

 game." 



These sandpipers do not associate much in flocks 

 like the others. They are found scattered about feed- 

 ing upon the meadows singly or in pairs. They are 

 not very wild birds, and when approached arise and 

 fly but a short distance, uttering a single " tweet." 

 They sometimes, when much startled, spring quickly 

 with loud repeated cries, and make off in a zigzag 

 course much like the common snipe. 



I have had considerable sport with these birds on 

 the salt meadows walking them up without a dog, and 

 on several occasions I have made a good bag of them 

 with a few of the other varieties. No. 10 is the proper 

 shot, since they are small marks, and the shot is usually 

 at close range. 



These birds are met with in the interior as well as 

 along the coast. Elliot observes that they do not seem 

 to go southward by way of the coast line of California, 

 probably migrating inland to Central America and so 

 onward to Chili by way of the shore. 



