Eskimo curlew, 123 



penetrating even into the remote territories of the west, cours- 

 ing along the great valley of the Mississippi, and extending its 

 wanderings into the southern hemisphere as far as Brazil and 

 Paraguay. These birds arrive at Hudson Bay in April or early 

 in May, but breed to the north of Albany Fort, returning to 

 the marshes with their young in August, and retire from that 

 country early in September. Indeed, accompanied probably 

 by the preceding, they frequent in summer the wide extent of 

 Barren Lands within the Arctic circle, feeding usually on aqua- 

 tic insects, their larvae, and when ripe, the fruit of the crow- 

 berry {Empetrum nigrum). On the 13th of June, 1822, Dr. 

 Richardson 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. 



About the close of August or beginning of September these 

 Curlews, accompanied by birds of the preceding species, arrive 

 on the shores of Massachusetts Bay ; and frequenting the 

 marshes and adjoining pastures, feed at this time much upon 

 grasshoppers, coleoptera, and earth-worms, which they collect 

 principally towards evening or early in the morning. On their 

 way to the South they also visit Nova Scotia and Newfound- 

 land, where they remain till the approach of winter ; and in 

 New Jersey these birds linger on till the month of November, 

 when they apparently, without further delay, pass on to the 

 south of the United States, for in other parts of the Union they 

 appear to be wholly unknown. Like the other species, they 

 are remarkably gregarious, each company seeming to follow 

 some temporary leader ; and on starting to wing, a sort of 

 watch-cry is heard, resembling the whistling pronunciation of 

 the word bee-dee. On their arrival from the North they are 

 very fat, plump, and well flavored, and included, like both the 

 preceding species and the Marbled Godwit, under the general 

 name of Doebirds, they are sought out by epicures and en- 

 hance the value of a table entertainment. Pennant remarks, 

 on the authority of Hutchins, that one year, from the 9th of 



