24 
SHORE BIRDS , 
Newfoundland for a period of six weeks, and if during that 
time an easterly gale prevails the results will be as we have 
stated. Several trustworthy fishermen who are excellent 
sportsmen as well, and who have often been cod-fishing off 
\ George’s Banks, seventy miles east of Cape Cod, inform us 
they have frequently seen golden plover and dough birds there 
in large flocks, always mixed up together, going south, and 
for weeks, when not too foggy, there was scarcely a moment 
when one or more flocks were not visible. Captain B. wrote 
us from Cienfuegcs, June 23d.: “On the passage (from 
Boston) May 27th, forty miles southeast from Nantucket, I 
saw, distant from the ship, not over one hundred and twenty 
yards, eight plover swimming very gracefully on the water. 
They took wing and shifted a few hundred yards further to 
the westward.” He gives a very interesting account of the 
natural accumulation of marine vegetables in the eddies at 
sea, and thinks the birds stop to rest and feed on tiny crabs 
and other marine animals, myriads of which make their 
homes in these bunches of seaweed. Again we quote from a 
letter of September 11, 1879: “August 12, sixty-seven 
miles southeast of Nantucket, I saw quite a large number of 
migratory birds.”.“I saw no large birds on the wing, but 
I passed several flocks of them sitting on the water, and 
either feeding or bathing. There were at least three kinds.” 
We have cited the above very reliable authorities to prove 
that if these birds get weary on the long voyage of over two 
thousand miles, from Newfoundland to the West Indies, 
they can safely stop anywhere to rest as they are graceful 
swimmers. 
We shall now attempt, very briefly, to follow our beauti¬ 
ful little winged wayfarers on their voyage to South Amer¬ 
ica. The data on hand, however, are few and quite incom¬ 
plete, and we have had to patch them out and fill up gaps 
and interspaces as best we could. We hardly know how to 
express to the reader, intelligently, the great difficulty of ob¬ 
taining from any point of interest in South America the 
most meagre information in relation to these birds. We have 
from several correspondents in various localities the mostposi- 
