
we 
Morning’s first faint breeze brings the melodious note of yellowlegs to the ears of the waiting sportsman. They are high. Will they 
see the stools? Will Nimrod score? Herein lies the charm of a day on the meadows, 
Minstrels of the Meadows 
Recollections of a Marsh Hunter’s Days in Quest of Plover and Yellowleg, 
with Practical Information on the Sport 
URING August and September 
along all of our Middle and 
North Atlantic shores and also 
on Canadian bays and marshes, sport 
of greater or less excellence is to be 
had with the many varieties of waders 
collectively referred to as rail, bay 
snipe or shore birds. 
As our time permits let us take a 
few days with the rail first and wind 
up the summer with the yellow legs 
and black breasts. If the sportsman 
is in New York, let him take a few 
hundred light loads of No. 10 shot for 
an open 12 or 16 bore gun and with 
any summer shooting togs, get into his 
car or, if not, and quite as comfortable, 
take a midday train from Grand. Cen- 
tral for Essex on the Con- 
necticut River. After 
changing at Saybrook Junc- 
tion we arrive at our desti- 
nation, a pretty little vil- 
lage with a comfortable 
hotel within a stone’s throw 
of the river. Having thor- 
oughly enjoyed a New Eng- 
land supper in the _ spot- 
less little dining room we 
go forth and soon complete 
arrangements for a_boat- 
man or “pusher” for to- 
morrow’s “tide.” Then after putting 
guns together and getting out our kit 
for the morrow we have a couple of 
pipes and turn in early. 
The sora rail, or, it is very generally 
known as rail, simply, frequents the 
reedy flats of many tidal rivers on the 
Atlantic coast and has, among other 

By CAPT. BEVERLEY W. ROBINSON 
places, been killed in great numbers on 
branches of the Potomac, on the Dela- 
ware and in New England on the lower 
reaches of the Connecticut River. The 
common way of killing this bird is for 
the hunter to be polled over these reedy 
flats at high tide in a light draft flat 
bottom boat or “punt,’”’ on the approach 
of which the birds are flushed. They 
generally rise within easy range and 
with legs hanging limply down make 
off in a slow steady flight, affording the 
easiest of marks to the shooter who 
stands or sits in the bow of the punt. 
I last shot these birds on the flats of 
the Connecticut River, and as they are 
only pursued successfully while the tide 
is well up, one’s shooting is limited to 
about three hours at a time. 
On leaving the little dock 
we paddled across a half 
mile of open water before 
coming to the reeds, through 
which the boat was steadily 
pushed by the boatman, 
armed with a long pole. 
With a slight flutter a small 
black looking bird rises and 
makes off, but a charge of 
No. 10’s arrests his flight 
at about 40 yards and he 
is retrieved by the aid of a 
landing net. During our progress 
others rise at frequent intervals, mostly 
meeting with the same fate, but as there 
is a great sameness and little variety in 
the shots, this form of sport is not cal- 
culated long to hold one’s interest, and 
a pair of teal fairly jumping out of the 
reeds come as a welcome relief, though 
with the light loads we only had time 
to stop one of them before they were 
out of range. Though not a thrilling 
sport, I should nevertheless consider 
rail shooting an excellent school for the 
beginner, who, while getting lots of 
shots is not bored as at practice over 
clay targets. Sportsmen of Philadel- 
phia or Washington may still have 
plenty of rail shooting either on the 
lower Delaware or on reaches of the 
Potomac. 
PRES having much the same 
habitat, each species of snipe varies 
to a greater or less degree in its flight, 
general appearance, the note of its call, 
and in certain of its habits; and to be 
successful, the sportsman must become 
familiar with all of these peculiarities, 
to tell at a glance by its flight or call 
the species of bird and, by an exact 
imitation of that call or whistle, bring 
it within range of his gun. Indeed, on 
a good day with a smoky Sou’wester 
blowing it is not at all unusual to see 
ten to a dozen different species of snipe. 
Though good sport may sometimes be 
had by walking up certain varieties on 
the marshes, the most general and suc- 
cessful way is to shoot bay snipe from 
a blind facing several dozen decoys, 
over which the birds are called by cor- 
rectly imitating their whistle. And here 
let me say that the location and proper 
placing of one’s decoys is far more im- 
portant than the construction of one’s 
blind. As to the latter something dry 
and comfortable to sit on and the merest 
screen of reeds stuck in the sand about 
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