22 
SHORE BIRDS. 
The list is very complete and covers about all the migratory 
wad 3 rs that visit the east coast of North America and West 
Indies, except winter yellowlegs, sickle-billed curlew and great 
marbled god wits. We would like now to take the reader 
back to Cape Cod; if he has not already had Cape Cod ad 
nauseam, and see what effect an easterly storm has on the 
birds there. If for three or four days during the flight 
period there happens to be a strong northeast wind, attended 
by considerable rainfall or fog, we are almost sure to get a 
“flight” of birds. Possibly we could not better illustrate 
this than by the recital of an instance that occurred under 
our own observation. On the 29th of August, 1863, we 
made a trip to Chatham, Cape Cod, for the purpose of enjoy¬ 
ing several days’ plover shooting. The weather was fine, 
with a westerly wind, and birds very scarce—in fact, the 
outlook for shooting was gloomy in the extreme. In a couple 
of days, however, the wind hauled to the eastward and blew 
fresh, attended by a dense thick fog and considerable rain. 
Toward evening of the third of September the deflected line 
of golden plover and Esquimaux curlew struck the shore and 
were at once driven to the fields or pastures. A few gun¬ 
ners happened to be there, and seventy-seven of the birds 
were bagged. All night long the birds could be heard cry¬ 
ing and calling to each other for help. There were some 
eight or ten gunners stopping at the same house, and of 
course there was a great deal of excitement and confusion 
getting ready for the morrow’s slaughter. Long before the 
golden light had tinged the eastern horizon the next morn¬ 
ing, breakfast was dispatched, lunch baskets packed, ammu¬ 
nition snugly bestowed—there were no breech-loaders then— 
teams were at the door ready to take ancl distribute the par¬ 
ties in the various fields from one to four miles distant. 
Quite early the birds came rushing along in the wildest 
confusion, but paid very little attention to the decoys or 
call notes. Those that did alight seemed perfectly 
bewildered and stared about as much as to say, 
“Where are we?” “What has happened?” Flock 
after flock went rushing along, pellmell, as best they could 
