. Feathered game of the Northeast . ebees cross his path with droning note,and swallows career about him, making a feastoff the tiny myriads which his march and left go scurrying brown sparrows,and other small fowl rise unexpectedly from thestubble. Flocks of rusty-looking bobolinks,scarcely to be known as the gay birds of twomonths ago, dash out from the oat patch withchirping discontent, and over all the breath ofsummer and perchance the air like a furnace. Suddenly another note, a gurgling, rippling,bubbling whistle, cuts short the gunners daydream, and as it sounds a second
. Feathered game of the Northeast . ebees cross his path with droning note,and swallows career about him, making a feastoff the tiny myriads which his march and left go scurrying brown sparrows,and other small fowl rise unexpectedly from thestubble. Flocks of rusty-looking bobolinks,scarcely to be known as the gay birds of twomonths ago, dash out from the oat patch withchirping discontent, and over all the breath ofsummer and perchance the air like a furnace. Suddenly another note, a gurgling, rippling,bubbling whistle, cuts short the gunners daydream, and as it sounds a second time he comesout from his sleepy state with a sudden was that for which he has listened. Lookwhere he may—right or left, above, ahead, be-hind, he sees no bird, but still the flute-like noteis heard, and at last, a hundred yards away, hiseye catches the flicker of sunlight on a pair ofbrown wings just as they are folded from theirflight. That soft and mellow whistle has somepeculiar quality, which, when it comes dropping. > O -Ja, Qz < THE UPLAND PLOVER 207 down from the summer sky, makes it the mostdifficult of all sounds to accurately locate. Now the sportsmans troubles commence, forthat one bird if it pleases (as it usually does)can furnish him a whole days sport bytantalizingly keeping just out of range. As thename indicates, they dwell mostly in the openhayfields, moving on rapid feet through thegrass in pursuit of the insects which make theirprincipal food. In such places as these anynear approach to them is most difficult, as theUpland, after his domestic duties are done andhis family is brought up, is a very shy and warybird, commonly springing up and away beforethe gunner can get within shot reach, whistlingmerrily his rolling, liquid note as he goes. Slender and graceful, long of limb, one of theswiftest fliers of a fleet-winged family, the Up-land has been unusually favored among ourdwellers of the wilderness, and comparativelyfew of them fall a prey
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgameandgamebirds
