ESKIMO CUELEW 131 



feet toucli the ground, their long, pointed v/ings are raised over the back, until 

 the tips almost touch, and then deliberately folded, much in the manner of the 

 solitary sandpiper (RhyacopMlus 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 vras given by many individuals at once, and described by 

 Coues as a " low conversational chatter " and by Mackay as " a soft, melodious 

 whistle, * 6ee, iee.' " Mr. W. A. Elwood describes this note as " a short, low 

 whistle" continually repeated by many of the birds simultaneously while iu 

 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 M'as 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, whUe 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 Eiver, 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 tliem. 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 aU left the country. 



