. Feathered game of the Northeast . you suffer! Out in the marsh grass when the late sum-mer has come, during the latter half of August,for a short time the flocks of fleet-winged littlebirds come scurrying in with gentle, flute-likepiping, flying in from outer islands and bar-ren ledges where they have rested during thehigh tide. Now the fast receding water is leav-ing bare the soft black ooze of the flats, fulland overcrowded with snails and tiny marinecreatures, a veritable storehouse of good thingsto be had for the taking. Against the waterybackground their white bodies gleam an in-stant,
. Feathered game of the Northeast . you suffer! Out in the marsh grass when the late sum-mer has come, during the latter half of August,for a short time the flocks of fleet-winged littlebirds come scurrying in with gentle, flute-likepiping, flying in from outer islands and bar-ren ledges where they have rested during thehigh tide. Now the fast receding water is leav-ing bare the soft black ooze of the flats, fulland overcrowded with snails and tiny marinecreatures, a veritable storehouse of good thingsto be had for the taking. Against the waterybackground their white bodies gleam an in-stant, and the little fellows show like a thinwreath of spray borne on the wind. As theydart in erratic flight another turn brings thedark backs into view, and next second theyare lost as they skim across the patches ofgrass just beginning to show above the they pitch in a sheltered, muddycove, and in their heedless innocence may havealighted almost at the feet of their enemy. Atonce they scatter and begin to feed, running. OhQ- QZ al < CO <x Hin< CL J Q < CO Quj < CL. THE PEEPS 155 prettily with nimble and graceful steps overthe slimy surface which bears their light formseasily. Mark how their pursuer flounders, wellnigh mired in the chase. At length a consider-able number being together for a brief instant,he fires. Another barrel when the frightenedlittle creatures are in the air, and for a hundredyards the cripples drop out and struggle to getashore to hide in the grass. The average gunner as he happens upon theselittle flocks seldom troubles them. If the beachbe covered with their squads and companies hemay take aim along his gun barrels at theirmost compact masses and figure out the prob-able destruction which the pressure of his fin-ger might cause, then throwing the gun intothe hollow of his arm, goes out of his way thathe may not disturb their happiness. But alltoo often comes the deadly flash with its fataleffects, and many are killed and others
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgameandgamebirds
