and the Maritime Provinces. 127 



approach it. It, however, sometimes stools well, but generally is shy of 

 decoys. It is not as desirable on the table as many of the other species, 

 but sportsmen eagerly seek to obtain it, probably on account of its size and 

 handsome plumage." 



" The upland plover is another species that breeds in New England," 

 remarked the Judge. 



" Yes," answered the Doctor, " I have seen it in the breeding season 

 many times in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Every summer a few pass 

 the season on Nantucket, and I have found it in the old fields and pastures 

 along the coast and in the interior repeatedly." 



"Yes," said I, "it breeds in all the New England States. It has a 

 multiplicity of names, among which the most familiar are the field plover, 

 pasture plover, and gray whistler. Its technical name is Bartramia longi- 

 cauda. In farming districts, when it is not pursued by sportsmen, it is very 

 tame and unsuspicious, but where gunners abound it is one of the wildest 

 and most unapproachable of birds. I have hunted it many times but 

 have never succeeded in shooting more than three or four in a day; it is 

 obtained generally by stalking it, but some sportsmen use a horse and 

 wagon in hunting it. 



" It is a handsome, graceful bird on the ground. When alarmed it 

 runs a short distance before taking flight and utters its melodious, yet 

 sometimes mournful whistle, as it disappears from view. It is rarely found 

 on the shore, but seems to prefer inland fields and pastures, where it is 

 found in small detached parties and where it subsists on grasshoppers, 

 crickets, and other insects and seeds. 



" I know of no bird that requires more skill in the sportsman than the 

 upland plover, and there is hardly any that the epicure prizes more highly." 

 " That is right," exclaimed the Judge ; " a good, plump upland plover 

 is the epicure's delight. 



" I am told that the long-billed curlew, or sickle-bill, as we used to call 

 it, breeds in the United States," he continued. 



"Yes," I replied, "it breeds all over the Union, but it is becoming 

 more and more scarce every year, and many ornithologists believe that its 

 extermination is only a question of time. It is easily decoyed, responding 

 as it does almost invariably to the sportsman's whistle, and as it comes up 

 to his stand in a compact flock the gunner often obtains repeated shots 

 into the group, for the birds that are not killed return to the call and hover 

 over their comrades on the shore. A very few sickle-bills, Lumenius longi- 

 rostris, make a good bag, but their great size is about their chief recommen- 

 dation, for I do not particularly fancy them on the table. In flying over 

 the marshes their flock is wedge-shaped like that of wild geese, the leader 

 often uttering his peculiar note, which is repeated by members of the flock. 

 In coming up to the stand the birds approach slowly, their wings spread 



