^Sa THE SHORE BIRDS OR WADERS 



make it difficult to draw the line of exclusion. The 

 sportsmen of to-day are more and more interested in 

 natural history, and I have determined therefore to in- 

 clude all the shore-birds in my commentary, giving 

 the larger space to those which are well deserving of 

 it, and but a brief mention to those which the sports- 

 man should not molest. These would soon become 

 tame enough to fui^nish a proper amusement with the 

 camera. 



There are in all seventy-six species and sub-species. 

 The ornithological list includes seventeen stragglers, 

 or accidental visitors, such as the European snipe and 

 woodcock. There are five sub-species which differ so 

 slightly as to be the same to the sportsman's eye. 



The order Limicolce contains six families of shore- 

 birdsv These, in the order of their importance to 

 sportsmen, are : i. Scolopacid<2, the family of snipes and 

 sandpipers ; 2. Charadriidce, the plovers ; 3. Recurviros- 

 tridcE, Arocets and Stilts ; 4. PhalaropodidcB, the phala- 

 ropes; 5. Aphrisidce, the surf-birds and turnstones; 

 6. Jacanidce, the jacanas. 



The birds which interest sportsmen are for the most 

 part found in the first three families above. In the first 

 are the woodcock, the snipe, and the upland plover or 

 Bartramian sandpiper, and several other sandpipers 

 fairly good as marks and to eat. 



Among the plovers there are several fine birds, espe- 

 cially the golden-plover and the black-breasted plover ; 

 large plump birds. The golden-plover and many of 

 the other varieties are far better table birds when 

 found on the Western prairies than they are when 

 feeding about the shores and salt marshes, when they 



