BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 285 



Range. — Chiefly eastern hemisphere; occasional in North and South 

 America. Breeds in Yenisei delta and on Taimyr Peninsula, Siberia; 

 winters in Africa, India, Malay Archipelago and Australia; in migration 

 occurs from Great Britain to China and the Philippines; occasional in 

 North America; Alaska (Point Barrow), Ontario, Nova Scotia, Maine, 

 Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey, and in the West Indies and 

 Patagonia. 



History. 



The Curlew Sandpiper is a straggler from the Old World. 

 It has been recorded six times at least in Massachusetts, as 

 follows: A specimen was taken in the autumn of 1865 on Cape 

 Ann.^ A specimen in the collection made by Mr. Baldwin 

 Coolidge (now in possession of the city of Lawrence) was killed 

 at Nahant about 1869.^ A female in the collection of the 

 Peabody Academy at Salem was killed at Ipswich, October 2, 

 1872, by R. L. Newcomb.^ Another was taken at East Boston 

 in May, 1876.^ Another specimen in the collection of Mr. 

 John Fottler, Jr., was taken at Cape Cod about May 10, 1878.^ 

 A male was taken at Chatham, August 26, 1889, and came 

 into the possession of Mr. Gordon Plummer.^ One specimen 

 is on record for Maine and another one at Grand Manan, 

 N. B.,® which has been erroneously credited to Maine. The 

 earlier records from New York are rather indefinite, but the 

 probability is that at least a dozen specimens have been taken 

 in that State. ^ 



Elliot says that the Curlew Sandpiper resembles the Red- 

 backed Sandpiper in its habits, and that it is an active little 

 bird, fond of associating with other species of waders. It 

 runs rapidly upon the shore, carrying the head down, and flies 

 rather high and fast, showing the back and breast alternately 

 as it wheels in its course. 



Its food, he says, consists of small mollusks, crustaceans, 

 insects, etc., and it is said to swallow the roots of marsh 

 plants, to eat small ground fruits and to feed much at night. 



1 Samuels, E. A.: Ornitholof^j' and Oology of New England, 1867, p. 444. 



2 Deane, Ruthven: Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, 1879, p. 124. 



a Townsend, C. W.: Memoirs of the Nuttall Orn. Club, No. 3, Birds of Essex County, 1905, p. 177. 

 « Brewster, William: Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, 1876, pp. 51, 52. 

 5 Ornithologist and Oologist, July, 1890, Vol. 15, No. 7, p. 110. 

 5 Knight, Ora W.: The Birds of Maine, 1908, p. 167. 

 I Eaton, E. H.: Birds of New York, 1910, p. 316. 



