The Long-billed Dowitcher 



When the tide is high 

 and mucking is over, our 

 Dowitcher friends stand 

 knee-deep in the warm 

 shallows, tuck heads under 

 wings and indulge a dream- 

 less sleep, the envy of all 

 neurasthenic Tattlers and 

 insomniac Killdeers. 



Once, at Elkhorn, on 

 Oct. ii, 1913, just before 

 the opening of the duck 

 season had set the marshes 

 aroar, I came upon a soli- 

 tary Dowitcher feeding in 

 a flooded meadow. Long- 

 billed Dowitchers were an 

 ancient target by that 

 time, but this demure 

 Barkis proved so unco wil- 

 lin' that I burnt up ten 

 plates on him, always at a 

 diminishing distance, and 

 the last two or three at 

 minimum range. Once or 

 twice the bird flitted a little 

 distance, but oftener it fed 

 as it retreated, and it al- 

 lowed itself to be "cor- 

 nered" repeatedly rather 

 than be at the trouble of 

 flying. Some of the poses 

 were dreams! The bird 

 could not have been more 

 obliging if he had let me 

 clamp the back of his head 

 in the old-fashioned photog- 

 rapher's tongs. But what 

 is the use of printed excla- 

 mations? There stands the bird, a conscious model, perfect in every 

 detail, and so life-like that the feeble pencil of the note-taker is abashed. 

 Words are mere padding for pictures nowadays! 



1226 



Taken in Monterey County 



Photo by the Author 



THE AMBUSCADE 



