Snipe, Sandpipers, etc. 



except possibly the woodcock, Bob White, and Jack snipe. Few 

 birds have been more tirelessly sought after ; few that were ever 

 abundant in New England and other eastern states have been so 

 nearly exterminated there by unchecked, unintelligent, wanton 

 shooting. It is to Kansas, Texas, and the great plains watered 

 by the Missouri that one must now go to find flocks numbering 

 even fifty birds, whereas our grandfathers once saw them in 

 flocks of thousands on the Atlantic slope. Like the geese, 

 ducks, and certain other birds that are exceedingly afraid of men 

 and impossible to stalk afoot, this wary "plover" pays no atten- 

 tion whatever to horses and cattle; hence shooting from a wagon 

 is the common method of hunting it in some parts of the west 

 to-day ; and an unsuspicious flock, suddenly startled to wing only 

 when the wheels rumble beside it, soon fairly rains plover. Shot 

 easily penetrates the delicate tender flesh unprotected by a dense 

 armor of feathers such as generally saves a goose under similar 

 circumstances. 



Delicious as a broiled plover is, there is no true sportsman 

 who will hesitate to admit that the graceful, slender, beautifully 

 marked, sweet voiced bird is not vastly more enjoyable in life. 

 A loud, clear, mellow, rippling whistle that softly penetrates to 

 surprising distances, like the human voice in a whispering gallery, 

 has an almost ventriloqual quality, and one never knows whether 

 to look toward the clouds or among the stubble at one's feet for 

 the musician. For liquid purity of tone can another bird note match 

 this triplet ? At the nesting season, especially, a long, loud, weird 

 cry, like the whistling of the wind, chr-r-r-r-r-e-e-e-e-e-oo-oo- 

 00-00, as Mr. Langille writes it, may be heard even at night; the 

 mournful sound is usually uttered just after the bird has alighted 

 on the ground, fence, or tree, and at the moment when its wings 

 are lifted, till they meet above its back. Everyone who has ever 

 heard this cry counts it among the most remarkable sounds in all 

 nature. The spirited alarm call, quip-ip-ip, quip, ip, ip, rapidly 

 uttered when the bird is flushed in its feeding grounds, and 

 still another sound, a discordant scream quickly repeated, that 

 comes chiefly from disturbed nesting birds, complete the list of 

 this tattler's varied vocal accomplishments. 



If this upland plover realized how perfectly the plumage on 

 its back imitates the dried grass, it might safely remain motion- 

 less and trust to the faultless mimicry of nature to conceal it. 



230 



