202 TJPLAJSTD SHOOTING. 



sportsmanlike — by flight-shooting, by stalking with a 

 team, and by shooting over decoys. Flight-shooting in 

 the N orth rarely affords any sport, unless by mere acci- 

 dent. On rare occasions, the gunner may find a fly-way 

 along some low swale or strip of green country, lying in 

 the path of the moving bands of birds, but this is so 

 infrequent an occurrence that it barely deserves mention. 

 The commonest way of shooting the golden plover, in 

 Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota, is 

 by means of a team. The birds can rarely be approached 

 closely enough on foot, but they do not so readily take 

 fright at a vehicle or at horses or cattle. When, there- 

 fore, a flock has been discovered feeding upon some green 

 field, strip of meadow, or wide stretch of prairie, the 

 shooter, or shooters — for several may indulge in this 

 sport together — drive quietly and slowly iu that direction, 

 not advancing too directly upon the flock, but aiming to 

 skirt the edge. The birds will lower their heads and dart 

 along the ground, pause, lean and listen, and perhaps 

 half-spread their wings, but unless much hunted they 

 will usually allow a wagon to be driven within fifty or 

 sixty yards of them; then away they go, skimming the 

 ground swiftly for a little way, then rising and heading 

 off for another feeding-ground, whither that hunter who 

 is best acquainted with the country will next head the 

 party. As the birds begin to stretch their wings over 

 their heads, and to show the uneasiness which precedes 

 the flight, the shooters at once descend upon the side of 

 the vehicle opposite the flock, and walk in as closely as 

 possible, perhaps taking a smart run of a few steps just 

 before firing. No true sportsman, of course, will think 

 of firing at these birds upon the ground. The discharge 

 is apt to be quite fatal enough, as the birds cross and 

 huddle in the act of rising, and the No. 8's or 7's wiU 

 make sad liavoc in the gleaming golden ranks. It is not 



