CHAPTER VIII 



SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING 



Shore-birds bring to our minds the marshes 

 and flats along our shores in summer ; from the 

 northern limits of the Atlantic to the pampas of 

 the Argentine Republic and Patagonia are their 

 haunts. Early in the summer, their nesting duties 

 over, their young fledged, they gather in flocks on 

 the shores of the Arctic Sea and the countries of 

 the North. With the waning of the Arctic sum- 

 mer they are on their way, and by early August 

 this army has reached the coast of Canada and 

 the United States. The heart of the sportsman 

 is glad. He sees the broad expanse of shallow 

 flats, left bare by a falling tide, their feeding- 

 ground, and the marsh dotted with little pools, 

 their resting-place, the outlying points by which 

 they fly, the flight with the rising water. It is all 

 irresistible, well may he yearn for the beaches and 

 marshes. Formerly myriads of these birds fol- 

 lowed our coasts on their journeys north and 

 south, stopping a time where extensive feeding- 

 grounds enticed them. Cape Cod, Long Island, 

 Barnegat, the bays of Virginia and North Caro- 



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