Shore-bird Shooting 443 



Virginia late in March and here tarry until large 

 numbers have congregated. The latter part of 

 April marks their departure. Between this point 

 and the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they 

 are not seen in the same vast flocks. Early in 

 April, 1899, while at Cobb's Island, there were 

 several days of high tides, and one afternoon when 

 a perigee tide was at its height and the marshes 

 all inundated, there was a continuous flight of 

 curlew from the late afternoon into evening, and 

 after dark we could hear them passing overhead. 

 I have never seen as many birds of any one 

 kind as on this occasion. Evidently the flocks 

 for miles to the south had been driven from their 

 resting-places at night by the flood. May finds 

 them well on their way to their breeding-grounds, 

 and by the last of the month many have reached 

 their summer home in the remote Arctic regions. 

 Here they nest and raise their young, choosing 

 the wild barrens and placing the nest on the 

 ground, lining it scantily with leaves and grass. 

 In Alaska this is simply a slight hollow in the 

 moss, and while one bird is on the eggs, the 

 other, seated on a twig of some dwarf willow, acts 

 as sentinel, giving a loud whistle when an intruder 

 appears. Then both birds fly toward the ap- 

 proaching danger, wheeling restlessly around and 

 whistling repeatedly. 



The eggs are hatched in late June, and by the 



