A MORNING WITHOUT THE BIRDS. 33 
Willet, about the same size as the 1 sst, -with a light gray 
body and black and white wings ; the Ball-head, or Black- 
breast Plover; the Golden or Greenback Plover, two fine 
birds for the table, the latter the better of the two; the 
Yelper, or large Yellowlegs ; the Small Yellowlegs ; the Do- 
witch, or Dowitcher, an excellent table morsel, and the only 
true snipe, ornithologically considered, in the entire list; Rob¬ 
in-snipe, somewhat similar in appearance to the Dowitcher ; 
Brant bird, or Turnstone, a beautiful but ra'her tough varie¬ 
ty ; the Kiicker, or Shortneck; the Peep, or Lorigshanked 
■ sandpiper; theRingneck; the Sand snipe; the Surf snipe 
and the Ox-eye, and others which are seen less frequently. 
Every one of these has its own individual and characteristic 
whistle, which must be imitated by the gunner as nearly as 
possible. Each variety must be distinguished and recognized 
as soon as seen, for they often fly in perfect silence, and will 
not notice the decoys unless called. They are recognized by 
the'r size, color and manner of flight; and an experience 
gunner, with perfect eyesight, can tell them apart at a pro¬ 
digious distance. Of them all the “Jacks” are the most 
wary, and as a consequence maintain their numbers less 
diminished than any of the others. Some varieties, like the 
Golden plover, have b:en almost exterminated, and in olden 
times a day’s sport was not determined by count, but, like 
the Biblical ft ast, by bushel-basket fuls. As they come to the 
stand, they hover and set their wings, and drop their legs as 
if to alight; and will often do so if undisturbed; but the 
true sportsman never waits for that, but picks out a crossing 
pair or more and shoots at those. At the report the fright¬ 
ened flock will dart about in terror, “ skiver,” as it is techni¬ 
cally called, making the second shot as difficult as the first is 
easy. In a moment they will have so entirely regained their 
coqrage that those which escaped will wheel and return for a 
ecord or third shot, until sometimes they are all killed. 
The sport, if it is good and the bird} plenty, is excitiDg. 
. The variety of species, the difference of ca’l and flight, the 
uncertainty cf bringing the game within range, when it is 
; nesitating whether to come or n^t, and the difficulty in se- 
