THE ESKIMO CURLEW — SWENK. 331 



covered with the birds, which there, in perfect safety, obtained their morning 

 meal. 



In Newfoundland and on the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, for many 3"ears after the middle of the nineteenth centurj^, 

 the Eskimo curlews arrived in August and September in millions 

 that darkened the sky.^ As late as 1890 a "cloud" of these birds 

 was seen on the Magdalen Islands, perhaps the last large flocking 

 of these birds that was seen anywhere in the east.- In 1900 one was 

 killed on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in 1901 one was 

 Idlled on Prince Edward Island, in 1902 it is believed one was taken 

 on Sable Island, and in 1906 a male was killed, September 6, on the 

 Magdalen Islands.* In Nova Scotia, since 1888, there is but one 

 record of this bird, a specimen in the Halifax market, September 11, 

 189T.* 



The fishermen of Newfoundland, as well as those of Labrador, 

 made a practice of salting down these birds in barrels. At night 

 when the birds w^ere roosting in large masses on the high beach a man 

 armed with a lantern to dazzle and confuse the birds could approach 

 them in the darkness and kill them in enormous numbers by striking 

 them down with a stick. ^ 



In New England, and especially in Massachusetts, the Eskimo 

 curlew was known as the " dough bird " or " doe bird," and the 

 existing accounts would indicate that these birds occurred on Cape 

 Cod, Nantucket, and other points on the coast in tremendous numbers 

 in August and September during northeast storms in the early part 

 of the nineteenth century. During these storms the birds sometimes 

 landed in a state of great exhaustion, and they could be chased and 

 easily knocked down with clubs when they attempted to fly. These 

 immense flights continued to appear on the Massachusetts coast up 

 to the middle of the nineteenth century or even later. In the thirties 

 and forties these birds alighted on Nantucket in such numbers that 

 the shot supply of the island would become exhausted and the 

 slaughter would have to stop until more could be secured from the 

 mainland.^ By 1858 Sumner* wrote for the vicinity of Boston: 

 " None are now to be seen where once they w^ere so abundant, and 

 even the market offers but few at 50 cents apiece." In other less 

 frequented parts of the coast, however, the bird continued common 

 for 25 years or more. Up to 1861 there were some birds each year 

 on the Massachusetts coast, but there were none in 1862.^ A great 

 flight occurred there August 29, 1863. A few days later, on Septem- 



1 Hapgood, W. Forest and Stream series No. 1, Shore Birds, pp. 17 and 22-23, 188.'5. 



2 Sanford, L. C, Bishop, L. B., and Van Dyke, T. S. The Waterfowl Family, pp. 445- 

 446, 1903. 



»Forbush, E. H. Game Birds, Wildfowl and Shoreblrds, pp. 416-432, 1912. 

 * Sumner, W. H. History of East Boston, p. 53, 1858. 



BMaekay, G. H. Auk. 9, pp. 16-21, 1892; 10, p. 79, 1893; 11, pp. 75-76, 1894; 14, 

 p. 214, 1897 ; 15, pp. 52-53, 1898 ; and 16, p. 180, 1899. 



