home several sets of three. The eggs are rather pointed ovate in shape
and have very little gloss. Many eggs closely resemble certain types
of Franklin gull’s eggs. The ground colors vary from browns to olives,
the latter predominating. The olive colors run from “buffy olive”
or “citrine drab” to “olive buff,” and the brown colors from “light
brownish olive” to “buckthorn brown.” Some eggs are boldly marked with
heavy blotches, which are sometimes confluent about the larger end;
more often they are irregularly spotted and blotched; and some eggs
are sparingly marked. The markings are in dark browns, “bister,” “bone
brown,” “buffy brown,” and blackish brown, with underlying spots and
blotches of various shades of “brownish drab.” The measurements of
36 eggs average 51.3 by 35.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
extremes measure =54.5= by 36, 52 by =39.5=, =47.5= by 36, and 51 by
=33= millimeters.
_Plumages._--There are not enough specimens of Eskimo curlews,
collected during the proper seasons, to work out the molts and
plumages satisfactorily. There are no specimens of downy young or very
young juvenals available. Young birds in juvenal plumage, as seen
on migration, are much like adults, but the feathers of the mantle,
scapulars, tertials, and wing coverts are more broadly edged, but less
conspicuously notched, with “pinkish buff”; and the under parts are
less extensively covered with the dusky markings.
The postnuptial molt of adults is mainly accomplished after they have
left us in the fall, beginning in September; the wings are probably
molted after the birds have reached their winter home. There is
a prenuptial molt of the body plumage, visible during the spring
migration, the new feathers, being more pinkish buff, especially on the
under parts.
_Food._--Professor Swenk (1915) says of its food habits in the west:
The Eskimo curlew was a bird of such food habits that it
is a distinct loss to our agriculture that it should have
disappeared. During the invasion of the Rocky Mountain
grasshopper (_Melanoplus spretus_) it did splendid work
in the destruction of grasshoppers and their eggs. Mr.
Wheeler states that in the latter seventies these birds
would congregate on pieces of land which had not been
plowed and where the grasshopper eggs were laid, reach down
into the soil with their long bills, and drag out the egg
capsules, which they would then devour with their contents
of eggs or young hoppers until the land had been cleared
of the pests. A specimen examined by Aughey in 1874 had 31
grasshoppers in its stomach, together with a large number
of small berries of some kind. The bird in its migrations
often alighted on plowed ground to feed on the white
grubs and cutworms turned up by the plow, or in meadow
lands, probably feeding on ants in the latter situation.
Richardson records finding them feeding on large ants at
Fort Franklin in late May, 1849. The curlews were rarely
seen near water, but were upland birds almost exclusively
during the spring migration over the Great Plains region.
Doctor Coues (1874) describes its food on the Labrador coast, as
follows:
Their food consists almost entirely of the crowberry
(_Empetrum nigrum_), which grows on all the hillsides in
astonishing profusion. It is also called the “bearberry”
and “curlew berry.” It is a small berry, of a deep purple
color, almost black, growing upon a procumbent, running
kind of heath, the foliage of which has a peculiar
moss-like appearance. This is their principal and favorite
food and the whole intestine, the vent, the legs, the bill,
throat, and even the plumage, are more or less stained
with the deep purple juice. They are also very fond of a
species of small snail that adheres to the rock in immense
quantities, to procure which they frequent the land-washes
at low tide. Food being so abundant, and so easily
obtained, they become excessively fat. In this condition
they are most delicious eating, being tender, juicy, and
finely flavored; but, as might be expected, they prove a
very difficult job for the taxidermist.
_Behavior._--Lucien M. Turner gives, in his Ungava notes, a vivid
description of a large flock of Eskimo curlews, which I quote, as
follows:
I saw none until the morning of the 4th of September, 1884,
as we were passing out from the mouth of the Koksoak River.
Here an immense flock of several hundred individuals were
making their way to the south. They flew in that peculiar
manner which distinguishes the curlews from all other birds
in flight, a sort of wedge shape, the sides of which were
constantly swaying back and forth like a cloud of smoke
wafted by the lightest zephyr. The aerial evolutions of
the curlews when migrating are, perhaps, one of the most
wonderful in the flight of birds. Long, dangling lines,
either perpendicular or horizontal, the lower parts of
which whirl, rise, or twist spirally, while the apex of
the flock is seemingly at rest. At other times the leader
plunges downward successively followed by the remainder
in most graceful undulations, becoming a dense mass then
separating into a thin sheet spread wide; again reforming
into such a variety of positions that no description would
suffice.
Mr. Mackay (1892_c_) says:
Of those I have observed in New England during a series
of years I may say that most of their habits closely
resemble those of the golden plover. In migration they fly
in much the same manner, with extended and broadside and
triangular lines and clusters similar to those of ducks and
geese at such times. They usually fly low after landing,
sweeping slowly over the ground, apparently looking it
over, generally standing motionless for quite a little
while after alighting, which, owing to their general color
approximating so closely to the withered grass, renders it
difficult at times to perceive them. I have had a flock of
50 or 60 alight within 30 yards of me, and have been unable
to make out more than two or three birds. If disturbed
they will frequently alight again at no great distance,
if not previously harassed, and under the same conditions
they can be approached at all times, for they are either
very tame or very shy. They seek out and are found in the
same localities selected by the golden plover with which
they generally associate if any are in the vicinity, there
always being a strong friendship between them. They are not
so active as the plover; on the ground they appear less
inclined to move about, especially after landing and during
rainy weather when I have at times noticed them standing on
the ground quite close together, every bird headed to the
wind, with heads and necks drawn down and resting on their
backs, with the rain running off their tails. At such times
they could be approached on foot to within half a gunshot,
showing little fear.
Doctor Coues (1874) writes:
The curlews associate in flocks of every size, from three
to as many thousand, but they generally fly in so loose
and straggling a manner that it is rare to kill more than
half a dozen at a shot. When they wheel, however, in any of
their many beautiful evolutions, they close together in a
more compact body, and offer a more favorable opportunity
to the gunner. Their flight is firm, direct, very swift,
when necessary much protracted, and is performed with
regular, rapid beats. They never sail, except when about
to alight, when the wings are much incurved downward, in
the manner of most waders. As their feet touch the ground,
their long, pointed wings are raised over the back, until
the tips almost touch, and then deliberately folded, much
in the manner of the solitary sandpiper (_Rhyacophilus
solitarius_).
_Voice._--Professor Swenk (1915) describes the notes as follows:
The Eskimo curlew had several notes. During flight they
uttered a fluttering _tr-tr-tr_ note, which was given by
many individuals at once, and described by Coues as a “low
conversational chatter” and by Mackay as “a soft, melodious
whistle, ‘_bee, bee_.’” Mr. W. A. Elwood describes this
note as “a short, low whistle” continually repeated by
many of the birds simultaneously while in flight. Mr. A.
J. Leach recalls the notes as resembling quite closely the
note of the bluebird when in flight, only perhaps shorter
and more of a twittering whistle, and, as it was given by a
large number, perhaps all, of the flock as they took wing
and while flying, it was difficult to catch the individual
note. This note was constantly uttered while the birds were
flying and was often audible before the birds could be
seen. Before alighting, as they descended and sailed, they
gave a soft whistle, somewhat like the note of the upland
plover, according to Professor Bruner, while as they walked
over the ground when feeding they uttered a chirruping
whistle, as if calling to each other.
_Fall._--The adult birds must have started off their breeding grounds
early in July for the first arrivals reached the coast of Labrador by
the end of that month. Their course at first was east-southeast, or
perhaps nearly due east, across Hudson Bay to the Labrador Peninsula,
where they lingered for a week or two to feast and fatten on the
abundant harvest of berries. Turner saw them as far north as the mouth
of the Koksoak River, and says in his notes:
From the 10th to the 20th of August immense flocks of these
birds appear on the level tracts from Davis’ Inlet to the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, each day adding to their number until
the ground seems alive with them. They feed on the ripening
berries of _Empetrum_ and _Vaccinium_, becoming wonderfully
fat in a few days. By the 8th of September it is asserted
that none remain.
Audubon (1840) writes:
On the 29th of July, 1833, during a thick fog, the
Esquimaux curlews made their first appearance in Labrador,
near the harbor of Bras d’Or. They evidently came from the
north, and arrived in such dense flocks as to remind me of
the passenger pigeons. The weather was extremely cold as
well as foggy. For more than a week we had been looking
for them, as was every fisherman in the harbor, these
birds being considered there, as indeed they are, great
delicacies. The birds at length came, flock after flock,
passed close round our vessel, and directed their course
toward the sterile mountainous tracts in the neighborhood;
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 occasioned 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 contrary, 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.
The eastward flight reached as far as Newfoundland, where they were
fairly numerous along the eastern and southeastern shores. There was
also a migration, probably down the west coast of Hudson Bay, which
reached the Atlantic coast through Ontario and the Great Lakes region.
But the main flight was through Labrador, across the Gulf of St.
Lawrence to Nova Scotia and then due south across the ocean to the
Lesser Antilles and South America; their course in South America is
not well known, but it was probably across eastern Brazil, to Uruguay,
Argentina, and Patagonia, where they arrived in September.
In fair weather the 2,000-mile trip across the ocean was probably made
in one continuous flight, though I believe that these birds were able
to alight on and rise from the water if necessary. But if bad weather,
severe southeasterly storms, thick fogs, or heavy rains occurred during
their passage, they were forced to land, sometimes in enormous numbers
on the coast of New England, less often on the shores farther south, or
on the Bermudas; if severe westerly gales occurred they were sometimes
driven far out to sea or even across the Atlantic to the British Isles.
Our flights in Massachusetts could be looked for during the latter half
of August and through September. On Cape Cod they used to frequent much
the same localities as the golden plover, old fields and pastures,
often several miles from the shore, and the drier portions of the salt
marshes, where they found an abundance of grasshoppers, crickets, and
other insects; on Monomoy they were often found on the low sand hills
which were largely covered with gray mosses or lichens. Mr. Mackay
(1892_c_) writes:
Those which do visit us almost invariably land with their
boon companions, the American golden plover, of whose
flocks I have frequently noticed they were the leaders,
and I can scarcely call to mind, as I write, an instance
where any number of Eskimo curlew have landed without there
being more or less golden plover present at the same time.
Those birds which may come can not, if they would, remain
any longer than is absolutely necessary, for they are so
harassed immediately after landing that the moment there
occurs a change in the weather favorable for migration they
at once depart. They appear to leave the coast at Long
Island, N. Y., and strike farther out to sea, and then are
not seen on the Atlantic coast for another year.
_Game._--The gunner’s name for the Eskimo curlew was “dough-bird,” not
“doe-bird,” for it was so fat when it reached us in the fall that its
breast would often burst open when it fell to the ground, and the thick
layer of fat was so soft that it felt like a ball of dough. It is no
wonder that it was so popular as a game bird, for it must have made a
delicious morsel for the table. It was so tame and unsuspicious and it
flew in such dense flocks that it was easily killed in large numbers.
On the Labrador coasts and in Newfoundland the inhabitants killed all
they could and preserved them for winter use, according to Mr. Berteau
(Carroll, 1910), “by parboiling them and packing them in tins and jars
and covering them with melted butter or lard.” Coues (1874) tells of
shooting them in Labrador, as follows:
Although the curlews were in such vast numbers, I did not
find them so tame as might be expected and as I had been
led to suppose by previous representations. I was never
able to walk openly within shooting distance of a flock,
though I was told it was often done. The most successful
method of obtaining them is to take such a position as they
will probably fly over in passing from one feeding ground
to another. They may then be shot with ease, as they rarely
fly high at such times. The pertinacity with which they
cling to certain feeding grounds, even when much molested,
I saw strikingly illustrated on one occasion. The tide
was rising and about to flood a muddy flat, of perhaps an
acre in extent, where their favorite snails were in great
quantities. Although six or eight gunners were stationed
upon the spot, and kept up a continual round of firing
upon the poor birds, they continued to fly distractedly
about over our heads, notwithstanding the numbers that
every moment fell. They seemed in terror lest they should
lose their accustomed fare of snails that day. On another
occasion, when the birds had been so harassed for several
hours as to deprive them of all opportunity of feeding,
great numbers of them retired to a very small island, or
rather a large pile of rocks, a few hundred yards from the
shore, covered with seaweed and, of course, with snails.
Flock after flock alighted on it, till it was completely
covered with the birds, which there, in perfect safety,
obtained their morning meal.
I can remember hearing my father tell of the great shooting they used
to have on “the plains” at Cohasset when I was a small boy, about 1870.
As he has now gone to the happy hunting grounds I can not give the
exact figures, but he saw a wagon loaded full of “dough birds” shot on
the plains in one day.
The greatest killings were made on the western plains during the spring
migration, which Professor Swenk (1915) describes as follows:
During such flights the slaughter of these poor birds was
appalling and almost unbelievable. Hunters would drive out
from Omaha and shoot the birds without mercy until they
had literally slaughtered a wagonload of them, the wagons
being actually filled, and often with the sideboards on
at that. Sometimes when the flight was unusually heavy
and the hunters were well supplied with ammunition their
wagons were too quickly and easily filled, so whole loads
of the birds would be dumped on the prairie, their bodies
forming piles as large as a couple of tons of coal, where
they would be allowed to rot while the hunters proceeded to
refill their wagons with fresh victims, and thus further
gratify their lust of killing. The compact flocks and
tameness of the birds made this slaughter possible, and at
each shot usually dozens of the birds would fall. In one
specific instance a single shot from an old muzzle-loading
shotgun into a flock of these curlews as they veered by the
hunter brought down 28 birds at once, while for the next
half mile every now and then a fatally wounded bird would
drop to the ground dead. So dense were the flocks when the
birds were turning in their flight that one could scarcely
throw a brick or missile into it without striking a bird.
In hunting these curlew the field glass was used by the
hunters to follow their flights. The fields where they were
prone to gather were patroled many times during the day and
carefully scanned with the glass to discover the flocks on
the ground. When the birds came in they would be up quite
high, perhaps from 200 or 300 yards to a quarter of a mile,
and in preparing to alight they would turn and wheel,
towering in the air while they whistled softly, would hover
a while, and then all drop and come down, flying along over
the ground for a short distance before alighting. The birds
would always alight all at once and very close together,
and if the day were warm they would sit down very close
together on the ground, forming bunches, when they could
be readily discovered with the field glass and approached
close enough to get a shot.
There was no difficulty in getting quite close to the
sitting birds, perhaps within 25 or 35 yards, and when at
about this distance the hunters would wait for them to
arise on their feet, which was the signal for the first
volley of shots. The startled birds would rise and circle
about the field a few times, affording ample opportunity
for further murderous discharge of the guns, and sometimes
would realight on the same field, when the attack would be
repeated. Mr. Wheeler has killed as many as 37 birds with a
pump gun at one rise. They weighed just about 1 pound each
when they were fat. Sometimes the bunch would be seen with
the glass alighting in a field 2 or 3 miles away, when the
hunters would at once drive to that field with a horse and
buggy as rapidly as they could, relocate the birds, get
out, and resume the fusillade and slaughter. On rainy days
the birds would fly restlessly from one field to another,
moving about in this way most of the day and seeming
unusually plentiful because of being so much in the air.
_Winter._--There is little known about the winter habits of the Eskimo
curlew except that it formerly associated with the golden plover,
the upland plover, and the buff-breasted sandpiper on the pampas of
Argentina and Patagonia, where it is now but a memory of the past.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--North and South America, accidental in eastern Asia and Great
Britain.
The Eskimo curlew is now nearly or quite extinct. Although formerly
abundant, its occurrence in both North and South America has been so
frequently confused with _Numenius hudsonicus_, that it is extremely
difficult to establish its migration range. Like the golden plover,
however, this species followed an elliptical route, usually passing
south in the fall off the coast of the United States, the point of
departure from the mainland being the coast of Labrador, Nova Scotia,
or (more rarely) Long Island, New York. In spring the return trip was
made up the Mississippi Valley and the prairie States at which season
it was practically unknown on the Atlantic coast.
_Breeding range._--The only known nests and eggs of the Eskimo curlew
have been obtained in northwestern Canada, Fort Anderson, Rendezvous
Lake, Franklin Bay, and Point Lake.
_Winter range._--The northern limits of the winter range are not known,
but probably extended rarely to Brazil (Ypanema). South to Uruguay
(Montevideo); Argentina (Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Concepcion, and
the Chupat Valley); and Chile (Island of Chiloe, and Paposo). It also
has been detected on the Falkland Islands (Abbott, 1861).
_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival in North America
are: Texas, Gainesville, March 7, and Boerne, March 9; Arkansas,
Fayetteville, March 31; Missouri, St. Louis, April 10, and Vernon
County, April 16; Kansas, Emporia, April 13; Nebraska, Alda, April 2;
Iowa, Burlington, April 5, and Grinnell, April 10; South Dakota, Brown
County, April 16, and Mackenzie, Fort Resolution, May 26, and Fort
Anderson, May 27.
A specimen of this species was taken at San Geronimo, Guatemala, in
April; and one at Lake Palomas, Chihuahua, April 8, 1892. A specimen
was taken at Chalmers, Ind., on April 19, 1890. In Massachusetts one
was obtained at Cape Cod in May, 1873, and about 50 were reported near
the mouth of the Rowley River, May 17, 1916. Spring arrivals also have
been noted in Alaska, St. Michael, May 12, 1878, and Cape Lisbourne,
May 25, 1886.
Late dates of spring departure are: Argentina, Concepcion, March 1;
Texas, Long Point, April 23, and Fort Stockton, May 4; Missouri, Jasper
County, May 1; Kansas, Lawrence, May 6; and South Dakota, Vermilion,
May 3, and Harrison, May 10.
_Fall migration._--Early dates of fall arrival are: Quebec, Bras d’Or,
July 29, Caribou Island, August 12, and Indian Tickle, August 16;
Massachusetts, Nantucket, August 18, and Edgartown, August 21; West
Indies, Barbados, August 27, Carriacou, September 5, and Grenada,
September 22; Brazil, Amazon River, September 4; and Argentina,
Concepcion, September 9.
Late dates of fall departure are: Mackenzie, Fort Anderson, August 2;
Quebec, Koksoak River, September 4, Montreal, September 7, and Magdalen
Islands, September 20; New Brunswick, Tabusintac, September 8; Prince
Edward Island, New London, September 1; Maine, Hog Island, September 2,
and Pine Point, September 23; Massachusetts, East Orleans, September 5,
Monomoy Island, September 10, and Nantucket, October 2; Connecticut,
Saybrook, October 13; New York, Lockport, October 2; and West Indies,
Barbados, November 4.
There are a few records in the interior for this season, among which
are: Ontario, Wolf Island, October 10, 1873; Pennsylvania, Erie,
September 17, 1889; Ohio, Cincinnati, September, 1878; Michigan,
Kalamazoo, October 28, 1879; Illinois, Summit, August 11, 1872; and
Wisconsin, Fox Lake, September 10, 1912.
_Casual records._--The Eskimo curlew has been taken or reported from
several points outside its normal range, among which are: Porto Rico,
once near San Juan (Gundlach); Bermuda, September, 1874; Greenland, two
records (Reinhardt); Pribilof Islands, St. Paul Island, May 26, 1872;
“Bering Sea,” May 22, 1874; Siberia, Cape Wankarem, August 6, 1881;
five records for Great Britain (Slains, Aberdeenshire, September 28,
1878; near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, September 6, 1855; one on the
Alde, Aldeburgh, Suffolk; one at Woodbridge, Suffolk; and one purchased
in the flesh at Dublin, October 21, 1870); and Iceland (Kjaerbölling).
The supposed occurrence of this species in southern California (San
Diego region and near Tia Juana) probably refers to _N. hudsonicus_,
as does also the record for the Galapagos Islands (Charles Island) and
South Carolina (Charleston).
_Egg dates._--Mackenzie: 28 records, June 8 to July 12; 14 records,
June 18 to 25.
NUMENIUS PHAEOPUS PHAEOPUS (Linnaeus)
WHIMBREL
_Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_
HABITS
The latest and best authority on the birds of Greenland, E. Lehn
Schiöler, writes that in all probability the whimbrel breeds on the
southern part of the west coast of Greenland, perhaps generally in the
south, but more especially in the southwest. The only other American
record of this species is one from south of Sable Island, Nova Scotia,
on May 25, 1906.