^AO Mackay on the Htedso7/ian Cnrleiv. [October 



soniciis) . I refer to the adult birds, the young being gentle and 

 tame in comparison. As a consequence comparatively few 

 'Jacks,' as they are commonly called, are taken in New England ; 

 one of the largest receivers of game in Boston informing ine that 

 in his opinion not over a hundred, if as many, that have been shot 

 in this vicinity, are annually brought into the market. Speaking 

 for Nantucket and Tuckernuck Islands, as far as I am aware, not 

 over fifteen or twenty of these birds a year, on an average, have 

 been shot there during the past seventeen years, and the local 

 saying, that " it does not pay to go after them," is true, they 

 being too shy and too limited in number to make it any object, 

 eltlierfor gain or for pleasure. During these seventeen years there 

 have never been more than one hundred birds on an average liv- 

 ing on the above islands each year, and for the past few years I 

 have noticed a falling ofl'from this number. Many of them have, 

 I think, passed one or more summers on these islands, for they 

 appear about the same date and in the same numbers, fi'equent- 

 ing the identical localities, and flying from place to place in about 

 the same manner. Thirty-five years or more ago there used to 

 be many more than at present, and according to a reliable account 

 there were some fifteen hundred birds, during the summer of 1S33, 

 living on the two islands. 



They were apparently as shy then as now, for even then it was 

 considered essential in order to take them to mo'tise a bble in the 

 ground for concealment in the locality which they frec|uented or 

 passed over, care being taken to remove the soil taken out to 

 some distance in a wagon in order that the place might appear 

 perfectly natural. Stands were dug in the centre of a clump of 

 bushes, as being less noticeable. In times past, on Cape Cod, I 

 have used a hogshead, sunken level with the marsh, from which 

 to shoot them, but even imder such conditions I never secured 

 more than nine in one day, and that only once. The Hudsonian 

 Curlew is a very observing bird and perceives at once anything 

 strange and out of harmony with the natural surroundings of any 

 locality which it has been in the habit of frequenting, and in 

 order to get a flock up to the decoys considerable care must be 

 exercised. Single birds or pairs will, however, decoy fairly well 

 if they have not been harassed. These birds have a way of set- 

 ting their wings stationary and sailing, when headed for the de- 

 coys, at a distance of one hundred yards or more, the flock 



