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WADING BIRDS. 
August to the 6th of September, they were seen in flocks innu- 
merable on the hills about Chatteux Bay, on the coast of Lab- 
rador, soon after which they all departed for the South; at 
this time they kept chiefly on the open grounds, and feeding 
on crowberries, were very fat and well flavored. 
A few of these birds migrate northward along the Atlantic coast, 
and some wander by the way of the Great Lakes ; but the route 
taken by the majority is up the valley of the Mississippi and across 
the plains, where they have been met with in “immen.se flocks" 
during May. They spend the summer on the Barren Lands within 
the Arctic circle, and after raising their broods, start on the migra- 
tion southward, crossing to Labrador, where several naturalists 
have found them in great abundance. But though so abundant in 
that region, comparatively few pass southward through the Maritime 
Provinces, and they are reported as uncommon all along the 
Atlantic shore of the United States ; so it is supposed that the 
larger number fly direct from Labrador to South America, over 
which country they roam during the winter, ranging to its south- 
ernmost point. 
Dr. Coues, who met with large numbers of these birds in Labra- 
dor, states that their principal food was crowberry, or “curlew- 
berry,” as the natives call it ; but they also fed extensively on a 
small snail which adhered to the rocks on the sea-shore and were 
left uncovered at low tide. 
