132 BULLETIN 14G; UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The eastward flight reached as far as Newfoundland, where they 

 were fairly numerous along the eastern and southeastern shores. 

 There was also a migration, probably down the west coast of Hudson 

 Bay, which reached the Atlantic coast through Ontario and the 

 Great Lakes region. But the main flight was through Labrador, 

 across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Nova Scotia and then due south 

 across the ocean to the Lesser Antilles and South America; their 

 course in South America is not well known, but it was probably 

 across eastern BraziJ, to Uruguay, Argentina, and Patagonia, where 

 they arrived in September. 



In fair weather the 2,000-mile trip across the ocean was probably 

 made in one continuous flight, though I believe that these birds 

 were able to alight on and rise from the water if necessary. But 

 if bad weather, severe southeasterly storms, thick fogs, or heavy rains 

 occurred during their passage, they were forced to land, sometimes 

 in enormous numbers on the coast of New England, less often on 

 the shores farther south, or on the Bermudas; if severe westerly 

 gales occurred they were sometimes driven far out to sea or even 

 across the Atlantic to the British Isles. Our flights in Massachu- 

 setts could be looked for during the latter half of August and 

 through September. On Cape Cod they used to frequent much 

 the same localities as the golden plover, old fields and pastures, often 

 several miles from the shore, and the drier portions of the salt 

 marshes, where they found an abundance of grasshoppers, crickets, 

 and other insects; on Monomoy they w^ere often found on the low 

 sand hills which were largely covered with gray mosses or lichens. 

 Mr. Mackay (1892c) writes: 



Those which do visit us almost invariably land with their boon companions, 

 the American golden plover, of whose flocks I have frequently noticed they 

 were the leaders, and I can scarcely call to mind, as I write, an instance where 

 any number of Eskimo curlew have landed without there being more or less 

 golden plover present at the same time. Those birds which may come can not, 

 if they would, remain any longer than is absolutely necessary, for they are 

 so harassed immediately after landing that the moment there occurs a change 

 in the weather favorable for migration they at once depart. They appear to 

 leave the coast at Long Island, N. Y., and strike farther out to sea, and then 

 are not seen on the Atlantic coast for another year. 



Game. — The gunner's name for the Eskimo curlew was " dough- 

 bird," not " doe-bird," for it was so fat when it reached us in the 

 fall that its breast would often burst open when it fell to the 

 ground, and the thick layer of fat was so soft that it felt like a ball 

 of dough. It is no wonder that it was so popular as a game bird, for 

 it must have made a delicious morsel for the table. It was so tame 

 and unsuspicious and it flew in such dense flocks that it was easily 

 killed in large numbers. On the Labrador coasts and in Newfound- 



