Shore-bird Shooting 447 



among the flocks of Hudsonian, at the Magdalens, 

 but I have never seen them in a flock by them- 

 selves, with this exception. Farther south they 

 are uncommon, and off Massachusetts only occa- 

 sionally come in with the flocks of golden plover, 

 after heavy easterly weather, late in August or 

 early September. The young birds are taken 

 well into October under the same circumstances. 

 On the southern coast their occurrence is similar, 

 and the large bodies spend but little time on land 

 between the shores of Labrador and the Pampas 

 of the Argentine and Patagonia. In September 

 and October they are found through the interior 

 on the prairie, and in the spring the migration is 

 apparently almost entirely through the western 

 United States, along the same course as the 

 golden plover. About the middle of May the 

 birds literally covered the prairie in places, and 

 were shipped to the markets in barrels. In the 

 last few years the numbers have decreased re- 

 markably, both on the breeding-grounds and 

 along the lines of their spring flight. The Barren 

 Grounds of the eastern Arctic regions and north- 

 ern Labrador are the nesting-places, and these are 

 reached in early June. The eggs are placed in a 

 slight depression on a few dead leaves or a little 

 grass, and are very difficult to find on account of 

 their resemblance to the surroundings, the bird 

 quietly leaving at the approach of danger. The 



