THE ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 469 



NUMENIUS BOREALIS. Latham. 

 The Esquimaux Curlew. 



Numenius boreahs, Xuttall. Man , II. (1834) 100. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 

 89; V. 590. lb. t Birds Am., VI. (1843) 45. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Much smaller than either of the preceding, but resembling N. ffudsonicus in color; 

 bill rather longer than the head, slender; wings long; tail short; legs moderate; 

 entire upper parts brownish-black, spotted with dull yellowish-rufous; quills brown- 

 ish-black, uniform on both webs, without bars on either; under wing coverts and 

 axillaries light-rufous, with transverse stripes of brownish-black; under parts dull - 

 white, tinged with rufous, with longitudinal narrow stripes of brownish-black on the 

 neck and breast, and transverse stripes of the same on the sides and under tail 

 coverts; tail ashy-brown, with transverse bands of brownish-black ; bill brownish- 

 black; base of under mandible yellow; legs greenish-brown; iris dark-brown. 



Total length, about thirteen and a half inches; wing, eight and a quarter; tail, 

 three; bill, two and a quarter to two and a half; tarsus, one and three-quarters 

 inches. 



This small and interesting Curlew is merely a bird of passage in the United 

 States, to be met with in the spring and autumn. It is easily distinguished from 

 either of the preceding by its small size and its comparatively short and weak bill. 

 We have never seen it from the western countries of the United States. 



It is only in the migrations that this bird visits New 

 England, and then only in small numbers. They make 

 their appearance by the last week in April, and pass to the 

 most northern sections, where they breed, and then return 

 here about the first week in September. 



Says Nuttall, " On the 13th of June, 1822, Dr. Rich- 

 ardson discovered one of these Curlews sitting on three 

 eggs, on the shore of Point Lake. When approached, she 

 ran a short distance from the nest, crouching near to the 

 ground, and then stopped to watch the motions of her 

 encroaching visitor. The eggs, sometimes as many as four, 

 have a pyriform shape, and a siskin-green color, clouded 

 with a few irregular spots of bright umber-brown." 



On their return in autumn, this Curlew has all the habits 

 of the two preceding species : like them, " they are remark- 

 ably gregarious, each company seeming to follow some tem- 

 porary leader ; and, on starting to fly, a sort of watch-cry 

 is heard, resembling the whistling pronunciation of the 



