THE SHORE PATROL 
217 
HUDSONIAN CURLEWS COMING IN AT NIGHT TO ROOST 
Ring-necked Plovers, Yellow-legs, and the host of little 
‘‘ Ox-eyes.” 
But what impressed me most was the astonishing migra¬ 
tion of the Hudsonian Curlews. Having never seen more 
than a few scattered ones at any one time, I had imagined 
that the species was everywhere scarce. But here they were 
by scores of thousands. During the day they were widely 
scattered over immense marshes. Learning from others of 
the best places to observe them, I spent a night at each of 
several little low islands — mere sand-bars — lying off the 
coast. 
About half-past five or six o’clock, when the sun was low in 
the horizon or had set behind a cloud-bank, the first advanc¬ 
ing line is seen, and a string of from a dozen to fifty Hud¬ 
sonian Curlews come scaling over the beach, to alight on the 
l)ar, down at the other end. After a few minutes another flock 
is seen approaching. By half-past si.x they are arriving fast, 
and by seVen there are two or three flocks in sight all the 
