SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 



417 



History. 



The Eskimo Curlew is placed in the list of extinct species 

 to call attention to the fact that this bird, the flocks of which 

 resembled in appearance and numbers the multitudes of the 

 Passenger Pigeon, is now practically extinct. As in the case 

 of the Passenger Pigeon, it is not improbable that a few more 

 small flocks or single specimens may yet be seen or taken; 

 but it is too late to save the species. Its doom is sealed. 



Most of the so-called "Dough-birds" taken in recent 

 years have proved to be Hudsonian Curlews, which have a 

 light stripe along the top of the crown. The Eskimo Curlew 

 may be distinguished at once by its unstriped dark crown, its 

 small size, unbarred primaries, and small, slender bill. 



The history of this bird, so far 

 as it is known to us, began in the 

 eighteenth century. It was de- 

 scribed by Forster in 1772 (Philos. 

 Trans. Royal Soc, London, 1772, 

 Vol. LXII, pp. 411, 431) ; but sixty- 

 three years earlier Lawson (1709) 

 mentions three " sorts " of Curlews 



that were found in " vast numbers " in Carolina, of which 

 this, possibly, was one; and Hearne (1795) spoke of two 

 sjiecies that were abundant about Hudson Bay (1769-72), the 

 smaller of which undoubtedly was this bird, although, follow- 

 ing Pennant, he gives the name "Eskimaux Curlew" to the 

 larger. 



The Eskimo Curlew was unknown to Wilson. The bird 

 which he described as the "Esquimaux Curlew" was the Hud- 

 sonian. The Eskimo Curlew was found breeding by Richard- 

 son at Point Lake in 1822,^ and it bred abundantly in the 

 Barren Grovmds. Its breeding range extended from Alaska to 

 Labrador. In the fall migration its swarming myriads massed 

 in Labrador, from there crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 landed at Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and then put 

 out to sea, heading for South America. If southerly storms 



Fir.. 20. — Axillars and first primary of 

 Eskimo Curlew (after Cory). 



1 Fauna Boreali-Americana, 1831, Vol. 11, p. ^7S. 



