The Game-Birds of the Coasts and Lakes of the Northern States of America: A full account of the sporting along our sea-shores and inland waters, with a comparison of the merits of breech-loaders and muzzle-loadersRoosevelt, Robert Barnwell
History
The Game-Birds of the Coasts and Lakes of the Northern States of America: A full account of the sporting along our sea-shores and inland waters, with a comparison of the merits of breech-loaders and muzzle-loaders
Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell
Game and game-birds -- North America; Hunting -- North America; Shotguns
This bird, although scientifically not a plover, is, by its habits,
entitled to an appellation that common consent has bestowed upon it. It
is found upon the uplands, never frequenting the marshes except by
crossing them while migrating, and feeds, not on shell-fish or the
innumerable minute insects that live in sand and salt mud, but on the
grasshoppers and seeds of the open fields. It never takes the slightest
notice of the stools, is comparatively a solitary bird, and although
continually uttering its melodious cry, does not heed a responsive call.
On the eastern extremity of Long Island, and along the coast of New
England, are vast rolling and hilly stretches of land, where there are
no trees and little vegetation, besides a short thin grass, and here the
plovers rest and feed. They migrate to the southward in August, and
appear about the same time scattered from Nantucket to New Jersey. In
spite of their shyness and the difficulty of killing them, they are
pursued relentlessly by man with every device that he finds will outwit
their cunning or deceive their vigilance.
Rhode Island has long been one of their favorite resorts, but has been
overrun with gunners, who follow the vocation either for sport or
pleasure, and there, for many years, the grey plover were killed in
considerable quantities. Many are still found in the same locality, or
further east, as well as at Montauk Point; but at Hempstead Plains,
where they were once found quite numerous, they appear no longer; and
the eastern shore of New Jersey being unsuited to their habits, they
rarely sojourn or even pause upon it. They travel as well by night as by
day; and in the still summer nights their sweet trilling cry may be
heard at short intervals; while during the day they will often be seen
in small bodies, or singly, winging their way rapidly towards the south.
They are wary, fly rapidly, and are difficult to shoot, and, were it not
for one peculiarity, would escape almost scatheless. Alighting only in
the open fields, where the thin grass reveals every enemy and exposes
every approaching object to their view; readily alarmed at the first
symptom of danger, and shunning the slightest familiarity with man, they
are impossible to reach except with laborious and painful creeping that
no sportsman cares to undertake. Not sufficiently gregarious or friendly
in their nature to desire the company of wooden decoys, they cannot be
lured within gunshot; and it is only through their confidence in their
fellow-beasts that their destruction can be accomplished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account