an end, his bobbing becomes more jerky and more and more
repeated, until with a loud whistle he jumps forward, his
long wings fly out and up and with the first unsteadiness
over he joins the bunch in a long line and betakes his way
with the others toward some distant marsh or pond. On, on
they go; the leader whistles, the others answer, suddenly
they all drop, sweep forward and up a little, and then,
with wings almost meeting above them and legs held daintily
down to break the shock, they all alight. For five minutes
there is no movement, no sound; there are no birds to be
seen where, a moment before, the graceful creatures had
alighted; suddenly there is a little flutter of wings and
before you know it numerous forms have run forward and bent
over the water to noisily quench their thirst. For another
five minutes there is as great a confusion and clamor as
formerly there was order and quiet; wings are fluttering,
hoarse, short cries are arising, feet are pattering up and
down, the water is heavily rippling from the motion of
many bills, and, in a word, all is chaos. One by one the
drinkers cease, calmness is gradually restored, and, after
pluming themselves, the birds draw one leg up under them,
tuck their head under one wing, neatly fold the other, and
sweet slumber reigns.
On its behavior with other species Mr. Silloway (1900) writes:
There is another side to the disposition of the long-billed
curlew, for this spring I was once startled by an unusually
piercing whistle, and looking upward I saw a curlew
swooping angrily upon a ferruginous roughleg that had
chanced to wander over the claimed domain of this pair
of _Numenii_. Time and again the curlew swooped upon the
unoffending _Archibuteo_ as the latter flapped heavily
along the edge of the coulee, and the cliff echoed with the
shrill whistles of the angry curlew. On the other hand, the
long-billed curlews are the victims of petty teasing by
the longspurs which throng the prairie. I have repeatedly
noticed McCown’s longspur (_Rhynchophanes mccownii_)
flutter up beside a curlew, sailing upward, or attempt to
strike the curlew, the latter on such occasions seldom
giving any attention to the petty annoyance mentioned.
E. S. Cameron (1907) says that he has seen nesting curlews make flying
attacks at Swainson and marsh hawks, just as the European curlews
attack the jaegers.
_Voice._--Long-billed curlews are noisy birds, especially on their
breeding grounds. I have recorded their ordinary notes of protest, when
near their nests or young, as loud musical whistles, like _quee-hee,
quee-hee, quee-hee_, sometimes prolonged into a long, rattling call,
_que-he-he-he-he-he_, loud and striking. Sometimes we heard a series
of somewhat guttural notes, or a melodious _coy, coy, coy_, somewhat
like the autumn gather call of the bobwhite. I have heard them in Texas
in the spring give rich, loud, musical notes as they flew, _wheety,
wheety, wheety_, very rapidly uttered, opening the bill with each
note. Our name “curlew” and the French “curlieu” are probably both
derived from one of the commonest and most characteristic calls.
P. A. Taverner (1926) says:
The commonest call note is a clear _pil-will_, so nearly
like that of the willet that it can not always be
distinguished from it. Other notes resemble those of the
upland plover. One especially delightful is a long-drawn
_curl-e-e-e-u-u-u_, sparkling clear and rising in the
middle about five notes, then dying gradually away,
lowering in scale and volume. The entire call lasts about
three seconds of time.
_Field marks._--The long-billed curlew can be easily recognized by its
large size, long, curved bill, and cinnamon color. It is much larger
than the Hudsonian and much more cinnamon in color, especially in the
wings. It is much like the marbled godwit in color, but its curved bill
is easily distinguished from the straight bill of the godwit.
_Fall._--I quote again from Mr. Wickersham (1902) as follows:
July is spent in raising the chicks and by the middle or
latter part of August, all is ready for the flight south
to Texas, Mexico, Florida, and the West Indies. Then it
is that we see them in great flocks of hundreds, bobbing
up and down all over the prairie, more nervous than ever;
and then it is that they are least wary at times and at
other times so very wary that it is impossible to approach
them. They are so nervous and upset that they do not seem
to know their own mind and it is at that season of the
year that their antics become almost as ridiculous as they
are just before the breeding season. The day comes when
you stroll out to take notes on the birds that you have
seen by the hundreds the day before only to find that they
have disappeared; not a bird answers your call, no hoarse
screaming betokens your approach; they have gone, gone
far away in long V-like squadrons and, unless you follow
them to their winter home in the southland, you will not
see their familiar forms for many months.
The long-billed curlew is now practically unknown in any of the Eastern
States, but it formerly appeared on the Atlantic coast about the middle
of July and in the Southern States in early August. It is still quite
common in California from the middle of July through September. The
main flight goes directly south to Texas and Mexico.
_Game._--Although long since removed from the game-bird list,
the “sickle-bill” was a fine game bird. Its large size made it a
tempting target. It decoyed readily and could be easily whistled
down by imitating its notes. The cries of a wounded bird were sure
to attract others, which would circle around again and again until
many were killed. For these and other reasons it is well that the
much-needed protection came in time to save this fine bird from certain
extermination.
Dr. D. G. Elliot (1895) writes:
Once when shooting in Florida, in the vicinity of St.
Augustine, a large flock of these birds passed overhead,
and I brought down some by two shots from my gun. Although
naturally much alarmed, the survivors immediately returned
to their wounded companions, which were calling aloud as
they lay upon the marsh, flying over and around them, with
hanging legs, and uttering answering notes of sympathy,
and approaching nearer and nearer until they were not many
feet above the ground. Repeated discharges of my gun failed
for a time to drive the unwounded birds from the vicinity,
but as each individual fell from the ranks, the rest would
swoop toward it, and with much crying seem to urge it to
rise and follow them. The air was full of rapid-flying
circling birds, each one screaming its best, and it was not
until a considerable number had fallen that the remainder,
convinced at length of the fruitlessness of their efforts,
and the danger present to themselves, departed for a more
secure locality.
_Winter._--The long-billed curlew is still quite common in Texas and
Mexico in winter. Mr. Wickersham (1902) says:
After reaching its winter home, the curlew undergoes little
change of habits except in his relation to other birds.
For a few days the big bunches stay together and then they
begin to separate into small bunches of from 2 to 20 birds.
It is rarely that a single one is seen entirely by himself
but two or three feeding together and then, perhaps a mile
off, two or three more and in this way scattered all over
the pastures and prairies is the way we find them in Texas.
They are rarely found in the brush or even in ponds or
swales surrounded by the brush, but far out on the open
prairie or in little mud flats on the larger swales we
rarely miss them. Here they feed all day looking for almost
any form of insectivorous or crustacean life.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--North and Central America, accidental in the West Indies and
Newfoundland. Failure to accurately separate the different curlews,
particularly on the Atlantic seaboard, causes some uncertainty
regarding their general ranges, but _americanus_ is evidently now very
rare east of the Mississippi River.
_Breeding range._--The long-billed curlew breeds (at least formerly)
north to British Columbia (150-mile House, probably Lac La Hache,
and Vernon); Alberta (near Calgary, probably Flagstaff, and Walsh);
Saskatchewan (Rush Lake and Quill Lake); Manitoba (Shell River,
Aweme, and Pilot Mound); North Dakota (Bathgate and Argusville); and
Wisconsin (Ceresco and Racine). East to Wisconsin (Racine); Illinois
(formerly Chicago); Iowa (Newton and formerly Ferry); Kansas (Neosho
Falls); Oklahoma (Camp Supply and Ivanhoe Lake); and Texas (Houston,
Corpus Christi, and Brownsville). South to Texas (Brownsville, and
Fort Davis); New Mexico (Fort Sumner, Santa Rosa, Los Pinos, and
Fort Wingate); Arizona (Sulphur Springs); Utah (Fairfield, and Skull
Valley); Nevada (probably Franklin Lake, Humboldt River, and Truckee
Valley); and northern California (Pitt River, Butte Valley, and
Eagleville). West to California (Eagleville); Oregon (Fort Klamath,
Camp Harney, Haines and Dalles); Washington (Kiona, Yakima, and Wapato
Lake); and British Columbia (Okanagan, Vernon, and 150-mile houses).
_Winter range._--The winter range extends north to California (San
Rafael and Sacramento Valley); southern Arizona (Pima County); rarely
New Mexico (Demning, Santa Rosa, and Carlsbad); Texas (Pecos, San
Angelo, Clay County, and Victoria); Louisiana (Vermilion Bay); and
formerly South Carolina (Charleston). East to formerly South Carolina
(Charleston and Frogmore); Georgia (Savannah, Sapelo Island, and
Darien); and Florida (mouth of the St. Johns River, Tarpon Springs,
and Fort Myers). South to Florida (Fort Myers); and rarely Guatemala
(Duenas, and Chiapan). West to rarely Guatemala (Chiapan); Oaxaca
(Juchitan); Jalisco (La Barca); Durango (Rancho Santriario); Lower
California (San Jose del Cabo, La Paz, Magdalena Bay, and San Quintin);
and California (San Diego, Owens Lake, San Joaquin Valley, San
Francisco, and San Rafael).
_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: North Carolina,
Corolla, April 15, Virginia, Chesapeake, April 15, and Locustvile,
April 16; District of Columbia, Washington, April 11; New York, Montauk
Point, April 28; Maine, Scarboro, May 2; Missouri, Warrensburg, April
1, St. Louis, April 2, and Appleton City, April 3; Illinois, Mount
Carmel, April 4, Quincy, April 10, and Canton, April 15; Indiana,
Liverpool, April 2; Iowa, Mitchell, April 3, Ferry, April 13, and
Coralville, April 15; Minnesota, Hallock, April 24; Oklahoma, Sentinel,
April 5; Kansas, Emporia, April 9, and Manhattan, April 13; Nebraska,
Valentine, March 28, Long Pine, March 29, Whitman, March 31, and Alda,
April 3; South Dakota, Vermilion, April 5, and Rapid City, April 10;
North Dakota, Argusville, April 8, Charlson, April 14, and Larimore,
April 15; Manitoba, Aweme, April 9, Margaret, May 2, and Killarney,
May 4; Saskatchewan, Eastend, April 16; Ravenscrag, April 28, Osler,
May 7, and Indian Head, May 9; Colorado, Springfield, April 3,
Colorado Springs, April 11, Denver, April 15, and Salida, April 29;
Utah, Salt Lake County, March 28, and Camp Floyd, April 12; Wyoming,
Sheridan, April 13, Cheyenne, April 15, and Jackson, April 18; Idaho,
Grangeville, March 14, and Neeley, March 15; Montana, Great Falls,
April 5, Terry, April 7, Corvallis, April 7, and Big Sandy, April 13;
Alberta, Provost, April 22, Veteran, May 2, and Flagstaff, May 14;
Oregon, Malheur Lake, March 28, Klamath Falls, March 28, Narrows, March
30, and Lawen, April 1; Washington, Prescott, March 23, and Chelan,
April 6; and British Columbia, Okanagan Landing, March 29, and Osoyoos
Lake, April 1.
Late dates of spring departure are: Florida, Palma Sola, May 11; North
Carolina, Cape Hatteras, May 20, and Cape Lookout, May 24; Maryland,
Hail Point, May 23; Missouri, Corning, May 25; Tepic, San Blas, April
28, and Los Penas Island, May 5; and Lower California, Turtle Bay,
April 14, and mouth of the Colorado River, May 15.
_Fall migration._--Early dates of fall arrival are: Lower California,
San Quintin, July 4, and San Jose del Cabo, August 26; Sonora, Altar,
September 14; New Hampshire, Rye Beach, August 12; Massachusetts,
Amesbury, July 21, Plymouth, August 9, and Cape Cod, August 27; Rhode
Island, Newport, July 15; New York, Orient Point, July 9, and Long
Beach, July 24; Maryland, Ocean City, August 19; South Carolina,
Frogmore, August 7, and Ladys Island, August 9; Florida, Tarpon
Springs, July 5; and Alabama, Dauphin Island, August 21.
Late dates of fall departure are: British Columbia, Okanagan Landing,
October 29; Washington, Grays Harbor, October 7; Oregon, Klamath Lake,
November 19; Montana, Big Sandy, August 25, and Choteau, September
4; Idaho, Neeley, October 1; Utah, Fillmore, November 19; Wyoming,
Cheyenne, August 9, and Yellowstone Park, August 22; Colorado, Denver,
September 12, Yuma, September 30, and Barr, October 22; Saskatchewan,
Eastend, August 6, and Quill Lake, August 11; Manitoba, Westbourne
Marsh, October 8 (Nash); South Dakota, Rapid City, August 3, and
Hermosa, August 15; Nebraska, Whitman, August 25, Valentine, September
1, and Long Pine, September 6; Michigan, Washtenaw County, September
12, and Ann Arbor, September 15; Ohio, Cleveland, September 15;
Missouri, Jasper County, October 15; Quebec, Montreal, September 21;
Massachusetts, Plum Island, September 2; Rhode Island, Jamestown,
September 9; New York, Fishers Island, September 10, and Montauk Point,
September 12; New Jersey, Cape May, September 14; and Virginia, Wallops
Island, September 6, and Cobb Island, September 25.
_Casual records._--As previously stated, the long-billed curlew is
now of casual or accidental occurrence east of the Mississippi River,
although it was formerly fairly plentiful on the Atlantic coast. Macoun
reports it as a rare emigrant in Newfoundland without particulars, and
in the lack of subsequent confirmation it seems probable that he was
misinformed. Preble (1908) records a specimen that was taken several
years previous in the vicinity of Fort Simpson, Mackenzie. Several
occurrences have been recorded for Alaska, among which are: Bethel,
five seen May 9, 1917, by J. J. Brown (authority of A. H. Twitchell);
a specimen, without date or exact locality, recorded by Macoun; St.
Michael, June 19, 1874 (Turner); and upper Kuskokwim, July 23, 1898
(Hinckley). A specimen also is reported as having been taken near
Spanishtown, Jamaica, in July, 1863.
Other West Indian records for this species are considered indefinite
and probably refer to _N. hudsonicus_.
_Egg dates._--Utah: 41 records, April 1 to May 22; 21 records, April
26 to May 9. Montana and Idaho: 24 records, April 20 to July 4; 12
records, May 16 to 29. Saskatchewan: 11 records, May 3 to July 4; 6
records, May 23 to June 10. Washington and Oregon: 7 records, May 4 to
20.
NUMENIUS ARQUATA ARQUATA (Linnaeus)
EUROPEAN CURLEW
_Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_
HABITS
The European curlew is said to have occurred once on Long Island, N.
Y., in 1853, and the specimen is still extant in the New York State
Museum. It was originally recorded as a long-billed curlew, _Numenius
longirostris_, but was identified by William Dutcher, who recorded it
in the _Auk_ (1892). Its claim to a place in the American list does not
however rest on this ancient record, as E. Lehn Schiöler says that it
has also occurred both on the west and east coasts of Greenland. The
first record was that of Johan Petersen, who obtained a young male on
August 23, 1913, at Angmagsalik on the east coast. Another was shot at
Nanortalik in Julianehaab district in 1915 on the west side.
_Spring._--Although great numbers of curlew are present throughout
the winter on the mud flats and low lying coasts and estuaries of the
British Isles, there is little doubt that the majority of our homebred
birds migrate southward, and this is confirmed by the fact that when
the breeding birds appear on the moors, the shore haunting birds are
still present in their haunts and remain for several weeks longer.
The average date of the arrival of the breeding stock in the north of
England is about mid February; Chapman has recorded their arrival from
February 5 to March 11, and in years of heavy snowfall, such as 1886,
they were unable to reach their nesting ground till March 19. In mid
Derbyshire they generally arrive early in March.
_Courtship._--As William Farren (1910) remarks the watchfulness of
the curlew and the open nature of the country it frequents, make
observation of the courtship on the ground extremely difficult.
False nests or “scrapes” are almost invariably to be found in the
neighborhood of the nest, and O. R. Owen writes that in some parts of
Radnorshire, where the curlew breeds commonly, it is not unusual to
find two or three dozen “scrapes” in an afternoon. The curlews arrive
on the moors in flocks, which keep together for a week or so, but soon
resolve themselves into pairs. At this times, the moors reecho with
their songs. Mr. Farren describes it as follows:
The performance, with its accompanying trilling song,
resembles somewhat that of the redshank. It rises from
the ground and with rapid wing beats ascends to a good
height. Often when near the summit of its flight it
checks suddenly, almost throwing itself over backwards.
Recovering, it hangs poised kestrel-like in the air, and
while so hovering, and also during a short temporary
drop on motionless wings, it pours forth the trilling or
jodelling song. It rises again on quivering wings and
again sinks as before. This may continue for some time or
it may be varied by the bird circling round on extended
wings, when one is again reminded of the flight of a hawk.
More often than not the bird will stop before a circle
is completed and hover again over a fresh spot. So it
continues, circling, rising, and falling, and pouring forth
a joyful ripple of song. The song consists of two--or
three--rising notes, rapidly repeated, high pitched, but
liquid and flutelike. I would express the curlew’s song as
_gur-lech, gur-lech, gur-lech, gur-lech_, pronounced rather
distinctly at first and not too quickly, but quickening
after the first two or three repetitions. Toward the end
the syllables must be almost run together, losing all of
the first except the “g” and at no time sounding the “ch”
too hard but rather as in the Scottish “loch.”
Seton Gordon (1915) writes as follows:
The singer, flying along the moor a few yards above
the surface of the ground, checks his flight and rises
almost perpendicularly with wings rapidly beating the
air. On reaching a certain elevation he soars--glides
rather--earthward in a slanting direction, and it is now
that his song is uttered. Commencing usually in a couple
of long-drawn whistles, uttered in a very low key, the
song quickens, the notes are sharper and clearer, and have
at the middle of the performance a curious, distinctive
“break,” difficult to put into words. It is at this point
that the song is carried far across the moorland country,
but almost at once the key is lowered, the calls become
more subdued, more drawn out, until they end, as they
commenced, in low, melancholy tones. Sometimes one sees
a curlew making his way across a moor and constantly
fluttering up into the air. But one imagines that there
is something at fault, for time after time he utters
only the first note of his song and then almost at once
mounts again into the heavens. Can it be that he does not
succeed in reaching the correct altitude from which all
self-respecting curlew commence their appeals to their
adored ones? But perhaps the songster is not producing
that bottom note satisfactorily and thus is doing his
best to perfect it. It is, I believe, only the male birds
that practice these distinctive risings and dips in the
air, but I can assert from personal experience the hen
also makes use of the trilling, tuneful notes which most
ornithologists associate only with the cock bird during the
season of nesting.
_Nesting._--The nesting sites are somewhat varied. Often the eggs
are laid in a slight hollow, lined with grass or sometimes sprigs
of heather on moorlands among short or long heather; others will
breed among the long, wiry grass of high levels or on short-cropped
pasture lands. A tussock in the middle of a wet bog may be used, or,
exceptionally, the nest may be in a plowed field. There is not much
effort at concealment, but the sentry is generally on watch to warn the
sitting bird. Occasionally I have known a bird allow approach within
a few yards, and Mr. Fenwick records a case in which the sitting bird
allowed itself to be stroked and even lifted from the eggs. As a rule,
the bird leaves the nest long before the intruder comes anywhere near.
The nest is about 5 to 5½ inches across.
_Eggs._--The eggs, which are normally four, are occasionally only three
or sometimes five. Of this latter number I have about a dozen records.
The only recorded case of six was probably due to two hens laying
together. The eggs are very large for the size of the bird, pyriform
in shape and very thin shelled, and are not laid on consecutive days.
In color they range from light green to olive green or olive brown,
spotted or sometimes blotched with light or dark umber brown and ashy
shellmarks. Exceptional varieties are pale greenish blue or whitish
grey, almost unmarked. The measurements of 100 British eggs, made by
the writer, average 67.6 by 47.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the
four extremes measure =78.6= by =55.1=, =56.2= by 44, and 61 by =43=
millimeters.
_Young._--Incubation is carried on by both sexes, and the period is
29½ to 30 days. In spite of their long legs the young can run soon
after they are hatched, but remain in the nest longer than the young
of most waders, running out and concealing themselves on the approach
of danger. Both parents assist in looking after the young, and only a
single brood is raised in the season.
_Plumages._--The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical
Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).
_Food._--During the winter months the main food consists of marine
mollusca, such as cockles (_Cardium edule_), mussels (_Mytilus
edulis_), _Mya tellina_, _Bythenia_, etc.; also Crustacea, especially
small crabs; occasionally fishes from rock pools, such as _blennies_
and Annelida (lugworms). In the breeding season land Mollusca, such
as snails (_Helix aspersa_, _H. nemoralis_, etc.) and slugs; Amphitra
(small frogs), Annelida (earthworms). Insects, including Diptera
and their larvae (chiefly Tipulidae), Lepidoptera and their larvae,
Orthoptera (_Acheta_, _Forficula_), Rhyncota (_Notonecta_, etc.), and
Coleoptera (_Rhizotragus_, _Anisoplia_, _Dytiscus_, _Scarabicus_,
_Aphodius_, _Harpalus_, _Zabras_, _Pterostichus_, etc.). Also vegetable
matter, seeds of _Polygonum_ and grasses, berries of crowberry
(_Empetrum nigrum_) and _Vaccinium myrtillus_; occasionally also
blackberries. Fragments of seaweed have also been found in the stomach.
_Behavior._--The curlew is not popular with the shore shooter, as he
is not only exceptionally wary himself but seems to take a delight in
warning other and less suspicious species. Howard Saunders says that he
has seen a curlew, after shrieking wildly over the head of a sleeping
seal, swoop down and apparently flick with its wing the unsuspecting
animal upon which the stalker was just raising his rifle.
Although a bird of the coast and bare moorlands, it can and does perch
not infrequently on trees. In North Brabant, where it breeds on the
vast expanses of moorland with scattered belts of small pine trees, I
have seen an excited pair perched insecurely on the tips of small trees
and keeping up an unceasing succession of anxious yelping notes while
their young crouched in the heather below. Although it usually wades,
the curlew can on occasion take voluntarily to the water and swims well.
_Enemies._--Naumann mentions the peregrine and gyrfalcon, as well as
the goshawk among the enemies of this species. Saxby, J. F. Peters,
and others have found remains of curlew at the feeding places of the
peregrine; and Ussher also states that it is also the case in Ireland.
_Fall._--Early in July the young birds are on the wing on the English
moors and are already beginning to collect into packs, which leave the
breeding grounds about the middle of the month and resort to the shore.
_Winter._--Probably most of the birds which winter on the English
coasts are migrants from northern Europe. They chiefly haunt the larger
estuaries and the wide mud flats of the east coast, assembling in
flocks of fifty to a hundred. When their feeding grounds are covered by
the tide they will sometimes work inland, or may be seen waiting for
the water to recede on some isolated clump of rock which commands a
view in all directions, all facing the same way.
DISTRIBUTION