Bird- Life in Labrador. 57 



varieties were in the same flock. The flocks were usually 

 from fifteen to several hundreds in number. They would 

 alight in the mud flats and feed, running about in the black, 

 slimy, clay-like muck or mud, running in the water to the 

 tops of their legs, anil keeping quite close together mean- 

 while. They feed in the evening and at dusk, chiefly among 

 the kelp along shore, and I rarely saw even a single bird at 

 high tide. They were very tame, and if I crouched and ap- 

 proached them on " all fours " I could get very close indeed ; 

 even if I maintained for a few moments my upright position, 

 in silence, they would often come and alight within a few 

 yards of me. If discovered, single birds and small flocks 

 would try to escape concealment by remaining perfectly quiet 

 for a considerable length of time. As long as they remained 

 thus it was very difficult to see them, even when very near, 

 as their color corresponded so closely to that of the mud or 

 kelp where they happened to be, while the approaching dark- 

 ness assisted them materially in escaping observation. I have 

 seen them at dusk fly from within a few feet of me when, af- 

 ter careful examination, I had not supposed that they were 

 anywhere near. I saw this species associate only with calidrw 

 arenaria ; the birds did not individually intermingle, but each 

 kept in its own separate flock. Sometimes a single bird would 

 be seen flying high and swiftly in the air, but generally their 

 flight was low and irregular, their notes uttered as two or three 

 faint, shrill whistles, the same as when made while running 

 about in search of food. At any uuusual movement or sound 

 they would instantly take wing ; but should the object remain 

 still and quiet they would very likely return again to the same 

 place and often within a dozen feet of the person or object 

 which previously frightened them. The large flocks seem 

 to be made up of the union of a large number of single fami- 

 lies, and I have many times seen them separate and reunite 

 in repeated succession, thus favoring my supposition ; the same 

 large flock of one hundred or more would break in the air 

 and, dispersing into twenty small flocks of five to seven each, 



