330 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915, 



of years ago he saw a flock of about a dozen birds at Coronado Beach, 

 near Tia Jiiana, CaL, and that he shot a few birds from this bunch. 



In Labrador the Eskimo curlews were abundant until about 1876, 

 according to observations reported to Townsend and Allen, ^ but 

 there was a great and sudden falling off in numbers about 1886. 

 Other observers place the sudden decline in 1891 - or 1892.' Bigelow 

 states that after 1892 the birds appeared no more in numbers, and 

 while in Labrador in September, 1900, he heard of only about a 

 dozen being seen on the coast, and of these he personally saw five.^ 

 According to Dr. W. T. Grenfell the birds became scarce in the 

 eighties in Labrador, and in 1892 he saw only two flocks of any size. 

 In 1906 he heard of a few dozen being killed but did not see one.^ 

 During the years 1908-1911 the birds were not noted in Labrador,^ 

 but in August and September, 1912, eight Eskimo curlews were 

 seen on the beach at West Bay, north of Cartwright, Labrador, and 

 seven of these were shot, while the skins of five were saved and sent 

 to Cambridge, Mass., by Dr. Grenfell, where they were seen and 

 identified by Mr. William- Brewster.* 



During the period of abundance in Labrador these birds were con- 

 tinually and heavily slaughtered. One hunter states that the fisher- 

 men killed them by thousands, and he had personally shot a hundred 

 before breakfast.^ Another hunter, quoted by Carroll,^ said that 

 he did not remember having secured less tlftn 30 or 10 brace in a 

 two-hours' shoot, and in a day's shooting by 25 or 30 men as many as 

 2,000 birds would be killed for the Hudson Bay Co.'s store at Cart- 

 wright. 



Concerning the shooting in Labrador, Coues ^ says : 



The most successful method of obtaining them is to talie sucli a position as 

 they will probably fly over in passing from one feeding ground to another. 

 They may then be shot with ease, as they rarely fly high at such times. The 

 pertinacity with which they cling to certain feeding grounds, even when much 

 molested, I saw strikingly illustrated on one occasion. The tide was rising and 

 about to flood a muddy flat of perhaps an acre in extent, where their favorite 

 snails were in great quantities. Although six or eight gunners were stationed 

 upon the spot and kept up a continual round of firing upon the poor birds, they 

 continued to fly distractedly about over our heads, notwithstanding the numbers 

 that every moment fell. They seemed in terror lest they should lose their ac- 

 customed fare of snails that day. On another occasion, when the birds had 

 been so harrassed for several hours as to deprive them of all opportunity of 

 feeding, great numbers of them retired to a very small island, or rather a large 

 pile of rocks, a few hundred yards from the shore, covered with seaweed and, 

 of course, with snails. Flock after flock alighted on it till it was completely 



1 Townsend, C. W., and Alien, G. M. I'roc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 33, pp. 356-35T, 

 1906-7. 



2 Forbush, E. II. Game Birds, Wildfowl and Shorebirds, pp. 416-432, 1912. 

 i5 Bigelow, H. E. Auk, 19, p. 29, 1902. 



* Townsend, C. W. Auk, 30, p. 10, 1913. 



B Carroll, W. J. Forest and Stream, 74, p. 372 (1910). 



•» Coues, E. Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sciences, p. 236, 1861. 



