BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



1 9 I 



Their note which is always given when startled from the beach, and often 

 when veering off from a shooting blind is a loud, clear, distinctive whistle 

 repeated five or six times or more in quick succession. It is sometimes very 

 sharp and high-pitched, a cackling noise. I have also heard a clear, mournful, 

 whistled curlew. 



The Hudsonian Curlew may be recognized by its note, its large size, curved 

 black bill, and by the dull brownish gray color of its body and wings, unrelieved 

 by any noticeable markings. The stripes on the head can be seen under favor- 

 able circumstances only. The length of bill in this bird varies greatly, the 

 males and especially the immature ones having short bills, while the adult 

 females have much longer ones. A young male in my collection has a bill only 

 2.25 inches in length, while an adult female has a bill of 3.65 inches. As 

 before remarked, the large females are frequently mistaken for Sickle-bills while 

 the small ones, even in collections, are not infrequently called Eskimo Curlew. 

 The average length of the latter's bill as given by Chapman, is 2.40 inches. 

 An infallible distinction, however, is the plain fuscous coloration of the primaries 

 in the Eskimo Curlew, while in the Hudsonian Curlew these feathers are 

 barred. 



123 [266] Numenius borealis (Forst.). 

 Eskimo Curlew ; "Dough-bird." 



Transient visitor, accidental in the spring, very rare in the autumn ; August 

 24 to September 15. 



The Eskimo Curlew, commonly known by old gunners as the famous 

 " Dough-bird," is a bird of the past on this coast. Although it has always been 

 rare in the spring, going north by the Mississippi Valley route, it was formerly, 

 — that is before 1870, — common and at times abundant in the autumn. Then 

 it would collect in large flocks on the hills after storms, and, being quite tame, 

 was killed in large numbers. One such invasion of "Dough-birds," although 

 in smaller numbers, I remember witnessing at Rye Beach, New Hampshire, 

 in 1874. 



The fatness and tameness of this bird have, however, not proved its ruin, 

 but have taught it wisdom, for the Eskimo Curlew now keeps well off the shore 

 in its autumn migration, flying south over the ocean from Nova Scotia. Only 

 in unusual storms is it deflected from its course so as to touch our New England 

 coast. 



In the autumn of 1890, a flock of about twenty Eskimo Curlew visited 



