THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 535 



Elsewhere upon the ground the Curlews are unapproachable, except 

 during the breeding season. So sympathetic are they, however, and so 

 devoted to their travelling companions, that if one falls a victim to the gun, 

 the gunner holds the others at his mercy. With clamorous solicitude they 

 gather about their fallen comrade and urge him to leave the fatal spot, re- 

 ceiving, of course, their own death wounds as reward for their fidelity. 



When the nest is discovered, a mere depression anywhere in the open 

 prairie, the parent birds throw caution to the winds and hover about the 

 intruder in an agony of apprehension, filling the air with quavering plaints, 

 and sometimes interposing their bodies to shield the young. At such times 

 the long mandibles, moving through a wide arc with every utterance, appear 

 nothing short of ridiculous, but it does not occur to one to laugh at the time, 

 — the bird is so terribly in earnest. 



No. 250. 



HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 



A. O. U. No. 265. Numenius hudsonicus Lath. 



Synonym. — Jack Curlew. 



Description. — Adult: Prevailing color pale buffy; crown with two broad 

 dusky stripes parted by buffy; a dusky line through eye; throat whitish, immacu- 

 late; sides of head, neck all around, and fore-breast finely streaked with dusky ; the 

 streaks, widening into bars on sides and flanks ; back, etc., dusky, varied with buffy 

 and ochraceous-buff; tone lightening on wings, due to preponderance of latter 

 color ; tail distinctly barred, ochraceous-gray and dusky ; quills less distinctly barred 

 with same tints, except on outer webs of outer primaries, which are plain dusky ; 

 axillars and lining of wing clear ochraceous-buff, heavily barred with fuscous ; bill 

 decurved, blackish above, lightening at base of mandible; feet and legs black. 

 Length 16.50-18.00 (419.1-457.2) ; wing 9.75 (247.6) ; tail 3.50 (88.9) ; bill 3.50 

 (88.9 1 ; tarsus 2.28 (57.9). 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size ; mottled and streaked, dusky and pale buff ; 

 rather stout, decurved bill of moderate length ; broad, blackish crown-stripes. 



Nesting.— Does not breed in Ohio. Eggs, 3-4, pale olive, spotted with dull 

 brown. Av. size, 2.27 x 1.57 (57.7 x 38.9). 



General Range. — Ml of North and South America, including the West 

 Indies ; breeds in the high north, and winters chiefly south of the United States. 



Range in Ohio. — Very rare spring and fall migrant. 



UNLIKE the preceding species, which is almost wholly confined to 

 temperate North America both summer and winter, this less conspicuous Cur- 

 lew spends its summers in the far north, and its winters in remotest Pata- 



