The Long-billed Dowitcher 
x ■■ t-2'2 
■ ' 
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. ir, 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! 
Taken in Monterey County 
Photo by the Author 
THE AMBUSCADE 
1226 
