UPLAND SHOOTING. 
203 
for the especial purpose of getting this sport in perfection. If 
the law authorized the shooting them in September, or at the 
latest on the first of October, there are many districts of the 
country, where the Ruffed Grouse would afford great sport to 
those, who would take the trouble to pursue them into their 
fastnesses, which requires considerable strength and activity. 
In the meantime, however, while there is no legitimate 
upland shooting to be had—by legitimate, I mean that, which 
is followed with dogs, whether Setter, Pointer or Spaniel, in a 
legitimate and scientific manner—there comes into play, at the 
very critical moment, the “ Bartramian Sandpiper,” better 
known as the “Upland Plover”—“Grass Plover”—“Field Plo¬ 
ver,” or “ Frost Bird”—which as far as a bonne bouche for the 
epicure goes, is inferior in my judgment to no bird that flies, 
unless it be the Canvass-Back; and there, with the Chancellor, 
I doubt / As a game-bird, and object of pursuit, I do not my¬ 
self care about him, the modus operandi does not suit my book, 
or entertain me ; nevertheless, there is much skill displayed in 
circumventing, or as Major Docherty would say, surrounding 
this wily bird, and as frequently a very large number may be 
brought to the bag, it is with some persons a very favorite 
sport. 
This bird, which by the way is not a Plover, though very 
nearly allied to that species, is stated by Mr. Aububon to arrive 
in the Middle States, early in May, to reach Maine by the mid¬ 
dle of that month, to breed from Maryland northward to the 
Sashatchewan, and to winter in Texas and Mexico. 
It is shot, in the Eastern and Middle States, from Massachu¬ 
setts to Pennsylvania, during the months of August and 
September, and in fact, until it is driven southward by the 
frosts; although it is worthy of remark, that it is also killed 
abundantly so far south as the neighborhood of Charleston, S. 
C., as early as the middle of July. The great majority of the 
birds shot in these districts is certainly not composed of those 
only which are bred here ; but is continually swelled by flocks 
coming down successively from the north-eastward, where I 
