AVES CHARADRIID^ 303 



deep brown on each feather of the lower neck, breast and sides, and 

 most conspicuous and definite on the flanks. Abdomen immaculate. 

 Lateral lower tail coverts with indefinite sagittate brown markings, giving 

 a barred effect. Median lower tail coverts plain creamy buff with a cin- 

 namon tinge. Lower wing coverts and axillaries bright cinnamon rufous 

 with barring of deep umber. 



Bill, dark brownish black, the lower mandible shading into flesh color 

 at the base. 



Tarsi, dark lead color. 



Feet, dark lead color. 



Iris, deep hazel brown. 



The adult female is similar to the adult male in color. (P. U. O. C. 

 8626, female, Kendall county, Texas, U.S.A. 17 March, 1880. N. C. 

 Brown.) 



Young birds of the year are more spotted in appearance above and more 

 rufous in the tone of the markings. The lower surface presents a much 

 more streaked appearance on the neck and throat and the sagittate mark- 

 ings more conspicuous. 



Geographical Range. — North America, breeding in the Arctic Regions 

 and more common in the interior than on the coast. Migrating to South 

 America in the fall and wintering from Southern North America to Pat- 

 agonia, and tlie Falkland Islands. 



The Eskimo Curlew was not observed by the naturalists of the Prince- 

 ton Expeditions, but there are numerous records from different parts of 

 Patagonia, where it was formerly very abundant. 



So far as known the birds are migratory in the area under considera- 

 tion, some travelling back from almost antarctic conditions to breed in the 

 far north ; but it is probable that most representatives do not make so ex- 

 tended a journey, finding a winter home in middle America. 



"The Eskimo curlew is almost extinct. Two were shot August 27, 

 1908, at Newburyport, Mass.; a few were reported by Dr. Grenfell on the 

 Labrador coast the fall of 1906; Bigelow spent the entire fall of 1900 on 

 this coast and saw only five birds and heard of about as many more. The 

 last previous record in the United States is that of two at Nantucket, Mass., 

 August 18, 1898, and the last specimen known from the interior of the 

 United States was taken by Paul Bartsch at Burlington, la., April 5, 1893. 



