160 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 
Atlantic coasts to Argentina and Patagonia, a distance of 
6,000 to 9,000 miles. In the spring it took a westerly course 
northward, and covered the prairie regions of the United 
States and Canada. It was in the Middle States, on the 
prairies of Texas and Kansas, that the “dough birds,” as 
they were called, met their fate. They congregated in such 
closely massed, large flocks that their wholesale slaughter 
by the market gunners was rendered easy. Forbush has 
given an excellent account of the history and the disappear- 
ance of this bird. He records the occurrence of immense 
flights of these birds on their southward journey; their 
dense flocks of millions would darken the sky, and the 
fishermen of Labrador and Newfoundland salted them 
down in barrels. All down the east coast the slaughter in 
the fall was terrific. In the spring they were killed in 
thousands in the Mississippi Valley, and were shipped into 
the Eastern market by the ton, in barrels. No bird could 
stand such slaughter, and in less then thirty years they 
were practically exterminated. It is a sad story of the 
exterminating effect of unrestricted destruction, and affords 
one of the most powerful object-lessons. 
The Long-billed Curlew is not common east of the prairies, 
but it is still fairly abundant in the southern portions of 
Saskatchewan and Alberta, where it breeds on the open 
prairie, and in British Columbia. But like other members 
of the family it is suffering from the inevitable extension of 
agriculture and the consequent reduction in its breeding- 
grounds. At the present time this species, the Hudsonian, 
and other curlews enjoy a permanent close season until 
1923, and, with adequate protection, it should be possible 
to prevent their extermination. 
BOB-WHITE, OR QUAIL 
In Canada the bob-white is confined to the extreme 
southern portion of southwestern Ontario, although its 
