SHORE BIRDS. 
\ 
HAUNTS AND HABITS 
T was in the month of April, 18G8, that we made our 
debut as a duck shooter on a Western prairie. Born and 
bred almost within the sound of the breakers on “New Eng¬ 
land’s rock-bound coast,” we had been taught to believe that 
the shore birds—Limicolse—were, with few exceptions, con¬ 
fined to the seaboard, and when we saw large flocks of sev¬ 
eral species of these birds feeding on the prairies we could 
scarcely believe our eyes, nor would anything short of a dead 
specimen in hand satisfy us of our errors. A golden plover 
(Charadrius virginicus, Borck.) was secured and found to be 
identical in every particular with the golden plover of the 
Atlantic coast; and, notwithstanding Prof. Baird had many 
years earlier declared their habitat to be “all of North Amer¬ 
ica, and visiting al ;0 other continents,” we could not some¬ 
how seem to realize the fact that they were so abundant at so 
great a distance from the sea shore. Other species were also 
observed, notably sickle-billed curlew ( Numenius longirostris, 
Wils.), Esquimaux curlew ( Numenius borealis , Lath.), sum¬ 
mer yellow-legs {Totanus Jlavipes, Yieill ), and pectoral sand¬ 
pipers (Tringa pectoralis, Say.). We endeavored to glean 
from intelligent gunners of that region some information re¬ 
lating to the habits, food, migrations, etc., of these birds, 
but our labors in this direction were vain and futile. The 
fact was p itent that no one cared to waste time or ammuni¬ 
tion on such “small birds ” as plover or curlew when deer, 
swan, geese, durks and their congeners were abundant in every 
direction Another very serious obstacle in the way of our 
inquiries was encountered, viz., eynonomy. We found it 
very difficult to make ourselves understood when undertak¬ 
ing to describe a particular species, so very different are the 
local names of birds. 
t 
