Nebraska Ornithologists' Union ZZ 



a man armed with a lantern to dazzle and confuse the birds could 

 approach them in the darkness and kill them in enormous num- 

 bers by striking them down with a stick"-". 



In New England, and especially in Massachusetts, the Ivskimo 

 Curlew was known as the "Dough-bird" or "Doe-bird." and the 

 existing accounts would indicate that these birds occurred on 

 Cape Cod, Nantucket and other points on the coast in tremendous 

 numbers in August and September during northeast storms in the 

 early part of the nineteenth century. During these storms the 

 birds sometimes landed in a state of great exhaustion, and they 

 could be chased and easily knocked down with clubs when they 

 attempted to fly. These immense flights continued to ap])ear on 

 the Massachusetts coast up to the middle of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury or even later. In the 30"s and 40's these birds alighted on 

 Nantucket in such numbers that the shot supply of the island 

 would become exhausted and the slaughter would have to stop 

 until more could be secured from the mainland^". By 1858 Sum- 

 ner^' wrote for the vicinity of Boston: "None are now to be 

 seen where once they were so abundant, and even the market 

 offers but few at fifty cents apiece." In other less frequented 

 parts of th coast, however, the bird continued common for twen- 

 ty-five years or more. Up to 1861 there were some birds each 

 year on the Massachusetts coast, but there were none in 1862'*2. 

 A great flight occurred there August 29, 1863. A few days later, 

 on September 3, 1863. on Cape Cod several guimers killed 28] 

 Eskimo Curlew and Golden Plover in one day"*^. 



A few birds occurred on the Massachusetts coast in 1866, 1867. 

 1868, 1869 and 1870, but none in 1864, 1865 and 1871^-. In 

 1872 there were two flights, and the birds were killed in such num- 

 bers that two market gunners sold three hundred dollars' worth 

 and boys offered the birds for sale at six cents apiece^". There 

 were some birds in 1873, 1875 and 1876. Imt none in 1874. while 



■^'Hapgood, W. Forest and .Stream scries No. 1, Shore Birds, pp. 17 and 



2.2-2:^, 1885. 

 '"Sanford. L. C. Bishop, L. B. and \an Dyke, T. S. The Water-fowl 



Family, pp. 445-446. 1903. 

 "Sumner. W. H. History of East I'oston. p. .'>:!. 1S.")8. 

 "Mackay, G. H. Auk, ix, pp. 16-21, 1892; x, p. 79, 189:5; xi, pp. 75-76, 



1894; xiv. p. 214, lSil7 ; xv. pp. 52-5.3, 1898; and xvi, p. ISO, 18<)9. 



