70 ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 



ing for them, as was every fisherman in the harbour, these birds being 

 considered there, as indeed they are, great dehcacies. The birds at length 

 came, flock after flock, passed close round our vessel, and directed their 

 course toward the sterile mountainous tracts in the neighbourhood ; and 

 as soon as the sun's rays had dispersed the fogs that hung over the land, 

 our whole party went off in search of them. 



I was not long in discovering that their stay on this coast was occa- 

 sioned solely by the density of the mists and the heavy gales that already 

 gave intimation of the approaching close of the summer ; for whenever 

 the weather cleared. up a little, thousands of them set off and steered in 

 a straight course across the broad Gulf of St Lawrence. On the con- 

 , trary, when the wind was high, and the fogs thick, they flew swiftly and 

 low over the rocky surface of the country, as if bewildered. Wherever 

 there was a spot that seemed likely to afford a supply of food, there the 

 Curlews abounded, and were easily approached. By the 12th of August, 

 however, they had all left the country. 



In Labrador they feed on what the fishermen call the Curlew berry, 

 a small black fruit growing on a creeping shrub, not more than an inch 

 or two in height, and so abundant, that patches of several acres covered 

 the rocks here and there. When the birds were in search of these feed- 

 ing-grounds, they flew in close masses, sometimes high, at other times 

 low, but always with remarkable speed, and performing beautiful evolu- 

 tions in the air. The appearance of man did not seem to intimidate them, 

 for they would alight so near us, or pass over our heads at so short a dis- 

 tance, that we easily shot them. While on wing, they emitted an oft re- 

 peated soft whistling note, but the moment they alighted they became si- 

 lent. They ran swiftly along, all in the same direction, picking up the 

 berries in their way, and when pursued, would immediately squat in the 

 manner of a snipe or partridge, sometimes even laying their neck and head 

 quite flat on the ground, until you came within a short distance, when, 

 at the single whistle of any one of the flock, they would all immediately, 

 scream and fly off, rambling about for a while, and not unfrequently re- 

 alighting on the same spot. Now and then, however, their excursion 

 would last a long time, they would rise high in the air, make towards the 

 sea, and, as if aware of the unfavourable state of the weather for pursuing 

 their southward course, would return. 



They continued to arrive at Bras d'Or for several days, in flocks which 

 seemed to me to increase in number. I saw no Hawks in their rear, and 



