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 

 bar, down at the other end. After a few minutes another flock 

 is seen approaching. By half-past six they are arriving fast, 

 and by seven there are two or three flocks in sight all the 



