2A! A NATURALIST IN THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 
darting in and out of the undergrowth, while an occasional 
Crow sailed slowly across the road, until perceiving us he 
would hurry away, uttering a parting “caw” of joy at his 
supposed lucky escape. Curlew were very abundant, but 
shy, as they always are. At times, large flocks would rise 
from the fields and fly silently for a few hundred yards 
before again alighting in some field more secure from obser- 
vation; and sometimes, although none could be seen, their 
soft, trilling whistle would be heard, as though some watch 
ful sentinel was giving notice to his companions of our 
whereabouts. 
As we crossed the beach to our “stands” large flocks of 
Plover and Yellowlegs started up in front of us, but they did 
not fly far, the wind being too strong for them to remain 
long exposed to it. | 
Hardly had I got fairly settled in my box before a flock of 
about a dozen Blackbreast Plover settled among my decoys, 
from which I bagged four with the first barrel, and another 
with the second. I had just picked them up, and was 
returning to the “stand,” when a Hudsonian Godwit lit 
among the decoys without paying the slightest attention to 
