32 Proceedings of the 



Concerning the shooting in Labrador, Coues^^ says : "The most 

 successful method of obtaining them is to take such a position as 

 they will probably fly over in passing from one feeding ground to 

 another. They may then be shot with ease, as they rarely fly 

 high at such times. The pertinacity with which they cling to 

 certain feeding grounds, even when much molested, I saw strik- 

 ingly illustrated on one occasion. The tide was rising and about 

 to flood a muddy flat, of perhaps an acre in extent, where their 

 favorite snails were in great quantities. Although six or eight 

 gunners were stationed upon the spot, and kept up a continual 

 round of firing upon the poor birds, they continued to fly distract- 

 edly about over our heads, notwithstanding the numbers that 

 every moment fell. They seemed in terror lest they should lose 

 their accustomed fare of snails that day. On another occasion, 

 when the birds had been so harrassed for several hours as to 

 deprive them of all opportunity of feeding, great numbers of 

 them retired to a very small island, or rather a large pile of rocks, 

 a few hundred yards from the shore, covered with sea-weed and. 

 of course, with snails. Flock after flock alighted on it, till it was 

 completely covered with the birds, which there, in perfect safety, 

 obtained their morning meal." 



In Newfoundland and on the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, for many years after the middle of the nineteenth 

 century, the Eskimo Curlews arrived in August and September 

 in millions that darkened the sky"'**. As late as 1890 a "cloud" of 

 these birds was seen on the Magdalen Islands, perhaps the last 

 large flocking of these birds that was seen anywhere in the easf^'. 

 In 1900 one was killed on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 in 1901 one was killed on Prince Edward Island, in 1902 it is 

 believed one was taken on Sable Island and in 1906 a male was 

 killed, September 6, on the Madgalen Islands^''. In Nova Scotia, 

 since 1888, there is but one record of this bird, a specimen in the 

 Halifax market, September 11, 1897^". 



The fishermen of Newfoundland, as well as those of Labrador, 

 made a practice of salting down these birds in barrels. At night 

 when the birds were roosting in large masses on the high beach, 



"'Coues, E Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sciences, p. 2.''.6, 1861. 



