THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW 



Bv A. C. BKNT 



^|)t jgational Si&Qotimion of j^udubon ^ocittitu 



KDUCATIONAI. LEAFLET NO. 62 



A striking case of the sur\ival of the fittest is seen when we compare the 

 relative abundance of the three common species of North American Curlews 

 today with their status fifty 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 every 

 summer or visited the New England coast at frequent intervals, have all dis- 

 appeared. They were tame and unsuspicious, were easily decoyed, and were 

 therefore slaughtered in enormous numbers on their feeding-grounds; they 

 made a long migratory flight over the ocean from Nova Scotia to South America, 

 where many undoubtedly perished in stormy weather. 



The Long-billed Curlew, once so common all over the interior prairie 

 regions, and even on the Atlantic coast, has gradually been driven westward 

 and northward, until it is now occupying a comparatively 

 irfLUe*^^^^ restricted range. It is such a large and conspicuous species 

 that it has been much sought after by gunners, and, as it is 

 not particularly shy, it has succumbed to persecution; moreover the culti- 

 vation and settlement of the prairies have driven it from, or destroyed its 

 favorite breeding-grounds. The Long-billed will probably be the next of the 

 Curlews to disappear, perhaps within the near future. But the Hudsonian 

 Curlew, on the other hand, has held its own, and in some sections it has appar- 

 ently increased. This increase, however, is probably more apparent than real, 

 and results from comparison with other species which are decreasing rapidly. 



The reasons for the Hudsonian Curlew's success in the struggle for exist- 

 ence are not hard to find. Its breeding-grounds are in the far north, where it is 

 never disturbed; it has no dangerous migration route; it does not, ordinarily, 

 migrate in very large flocks, which are susceptible to vicissitudes of weather 

 and great slaughter at the hands of gunners; but, above all, it is a shy, wary, 

 wily bird, c^uite capable of taking care of itself and well-fitted to survive. Like 

 the Crow, it is more than a match for its enemies. There is no bird that has 

 been more universally persecuted than the Crow, c^•ery man's hand is against 

 it, yet it is practically as abundant as ever. 



The Hudsonian Curlew, 'Jack Curlew,' 'Short-billed Curlew,' or 'Jack," 

 as it is called, has often been mistaken by gunners for either of the other 

 two species, and some confusion seems to have existed, in regard to it, among 

 the early Avriters on ornithology. Wilson does not seem to have recognized 

 this species at all, or to have confused it with the Eskimo Curlew; and Nuttall's 

 remarks are not altogether clear on the subject. There is so much variation 



(59) 



