120 BULLETIN 146^ UNITED STATES NATIOlSrAL MUSEUM 



metallic." E. W. Hadeler refers to this note as pip, pip, uttered five 

 or six times in rapid succession. 

 John G. Tyler (1913) writes: 



There are no birds with which I am acquainted that can compare with these 

 splendid waders in the ricli, musical quality of their voices. On the last day 

 of one April I encountered a large flock of curlews in a grain field, part of 

 which was being flooded at the time with irrigation water. The nervous 

 lispings that at my approach threatened to break into the clamorous, screaming 

 flight calls finally subsided, and the birds fed and waded about in the water 

 or preened their feathers while standing storklike on one leg. Suddenly I 

 was thrilled with a medley of subdued pipings so marvelously sweet and 

 musical that I could hardly believe the sound came from my flock of curlews. 

 The faintest whispering it seemed, yet the liquid melody was really far- 

 reaching and was, as I afterwards learned, distinctly audible from a distance 

 of a quarter of a mile when atmospheric conditions were favorable. A strange 

 nervous unrest seemed to affect the entire group on the ground. The whistlings 

 became louder, and the cause was suddenly revealed to me when a curlew call 

 from overhead drew my attention to a flock of new arrivals, nine in number, 

 that were circling preparatory to joining the company at the pond. My surprise 

 and admiration knew no bounds when I realized the sublime heights at which 

 these travelers through the sky had been flying. Mere specks they appeared, 

 and yet their melodious call rang clear and distinct. 



Field marks. — A large, rather pale brown bird with a long, de- 

 curved bill can easily be recognized as a curlew; the long-billed 

 curlew is larger, has a longer bill, and is much more rufous or 

 cinnamon colored, especially in the wings; the Eskimo curlew is, or 

 was, smaller, with a shorter bill, though young Hudsonians have 

 rather short bills. Mr. Nichols suggests that at close range the much 

 barred under wing can frequently be noticed; the outer primaries 

 look blacker and plainer than in long-billed, and a white streak 

 near the edge of the wing, made by the primary quills, is cut off 

 abruptly at the base by a blackish blotch. 



Fall. — Like most of the northern breeding shore birds, the Hud- 

 sonian curlew moves off its breeding grounds as soon as the young 

 are able to shift for themselves, and begins its summer wanderings, 

 or starts on its southward migration early in July. There are two 

 main lines of flight, down the east and west coasts of the continent, 

 as well as a more scattering flight through the central valleys and 

 plains. The eastward flight is from the west coast of Hudson Bay, 

 where many birds linger through August, to the coasts of New Eng- 

 land and southward. A few Hudsonian curlews migrate as far east 

 as Labrador; the species has never been common there, but since 

 the disappearance of the Eskimo curlew it has been more in evidence; 

 Lucien M. Turner recorded it only twice in northern Ungava ; a few 

 specimens have been taken on the east coast of Labrador. 



Adults appear on the coast of Massachusetts about the middle of 

 July and the young birds about a month later; the heaviest flights 



