HUDSOFIAN CUELEW 113 



Winter range. — Many winter in the British Isles, southern Europe 

 (the Mediterranean region), and a great part of Africa, Also in 

 small numbers to the Persian Gulf, but here it meets the eastern 

 form. 



SpHng miigration. — At the Straits of Gibraltar the passage takes 

 place in March, but Irby saw a few late in April, while along the 

 Portuguese coast they pass from March to May. In the eastern 

 Mediterranean some leave Cyprus by the end of February, but 

 stragglers have been seen on March 30 and April 5 and others have 

 been seen on Crete at the end of April. In Iraq large flocks passed 

 Feluja between mid April and May 25, flying north in the evening. 



Fall migration. — Although long after the normal southward 

 migration the advent of hard weather will bring big flocks past Heli- 

 goland flying west as late as November 19 to 20. The young birds 

 begin to arrive there as early as mid July from Scandinavia, and 

 on the Portuguese coast the passage lasts fronj late July to Novem- 

 ber and at Tangier from September through October. At the Ionian 

 Isles and on Cyprus they arrive at the beginning of September, and 

 the passage through Greece lasts throughout September. 



Casual records. — The records for Greenland and eastern America 

 have been mentioned. In Iceland Faber recorded the first on Septem- 

 ber 6, 1819, and since then other occurrences have taken place with- 

 out exact date. To the Faroes it is only a straggler in the winter 

 months. In the Canaries it is an occasional visitor, chiefly to the 

 eastern isles, and has been seen there as late as June 14. It has also 

 been recorded from the Azores, Madeira (December 7, 1893, October 

 25, 1896, October 28, 189G, January 30, 1897, and great numbers on 

 April 28, 1898) and the Cape Verde Islands. 



Egg dates.— BvitiQli Isles, April 17 to May 31 (42 dates), April 

 20 to May 10 (26 dates). Holland and Germany, earliest date April 

 6. Scandinavia from about mid May onward, May 13 to 26 (6 dates). 



NUMENIUS HUDSONICUS Latham 

 HUDSONIAN CURLEW 



HABITS 



A striking case of the survival of the fittest is seen when we compare 

 the relative abundance of the three common species of North Ameri- 

 can curlews to-day with their status 50 years ago. Whereas, at that, 

 time the Hudsonian curlew was the rarest of the three, it is now by 

 far the commonest. The vast flocks of Eskimo curlew, that formerly 

 frequented the Labrador coast Qy&vy summer and visited the New 

 England coast at frequent intervals, have all disappeared. They 



