514 scolopacidj:. 



were observed at Cape Wankarem ou the 6th of August, 

 1881 ; but the representative of this species iu the rest of 

 Siberia, Japan, China, the Moluccas and Australia, is the 

 smaller and quite distinct Numenius minor. 



Eeinhardt says that two specimens of the Eskimo Curlew, 

 believed to be of Greenland origin, have been received at 

 Copenhagen ; and undoubted Greenland examples were ob- 

 tained in August 1881 (Vid. Medd. 1881, p. 185). In 

 Labrador the species is found in vast numbers in August, 

 feeding upon the crowberry {Empetrum nigrum), which goes 

 by the name of the ' Curlew-berry ' among the fishermen. 

 It also ^'isits Newfoundland, but comparatively few birds 

 appear to remain long in the New England States, or to 

 the north of the Southern States and Texas where some 

 winter, whilst others continue their course to Mexico, the 

 Bermudas, Central America, and South America down to the 

 Rio de la Plata. On the spring passage it migrates through 

 the Missouri region in flocks of from fifty to several hundreds 

 in April, sometimes before the snow has disappeared, but 

 it is not known to visit the western side of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



The nest of the Eskimo Curlew is said by Dr. Elliott 

 Coues to be generally in an open plain, and is a mere 

 depression in the ground, lined with a few dried leaves or 

 grasses, in which the complement of four eggs is deposited 

 by the middle of June. These are of an olive-drab colour, 

 boldly blotched with different shades of brown, and under- 

 lying shell-marks of grey : iu measurement they average 

 2 by 1*45 in. An example, obtained by MacFarlane, is 

 figured by Professor Newton (P.Z.S. 1870, p. 56, pi. iv. 

 fig. 1). 



In autumn this species, as already stated, feeds freely 

 on the crowberry, with the purple juice of which the lower 

 parts are frequently much stained ; it is also very partial 

 to a species of snail that adheres to the rocks, to procure 

 which it frequents the land-washes at low tide. Under this 

 diet the birds become excessively fat, and arc delicious 

 eating. The note is an often-repeated soft, mellow whistle, 



