LONG-BILLED CURLEW (Numenius 

 americanus). The largest of the curlews and 

 also the largest of the shore birds, measuring 

 about 2 feet in length. The bill is very long 

 and quite curved, measuring from 4 to 8 in. 

 in length. Not many years ago these great 

 birds occurred regularly along the Atlantic 

 coast north to New England, but at present 

 are only regarded as stragglers. They breed 

 from Texas and northern California north 

 to Saskatchewan and winter on the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf coasts. 



Even in the interior they are rapidly di- 

 minishing in numbers, for no gunner loses the 

 chance to bag them and they are the very 

 easiest of game to secure. They are killed 

 chiefly because of their size; their flesh is 

 rather tough and not very desirable. They 

 come to decoys readily, but one does not even 

 need decoys, for an imitation of their clear 

 flute-like cur-lew will bring passing birds 

 within range without fail. 



HUDSONIAN CURLEWS (Numenius 

 hudsonicus) or "Jack Curlews," as gunners 

 usually call them, measure only about 1 7 in. in 

 length. Notice that the crown is solid brown- 

 ish-black, with a narrow stripe through the 

 middle, this easily distinguishing them from 

 the smaller Eskimo Curlews, which have 

 the crown streaked all over with buff. These 

 birds breed along the Arctic coast and mi- 

 grate mainly along both Atlantic and Pacific coasts to their winter homes, 

 which are from the Gulf coast to southern South America. If the weather is 

 favorable, they leave land at Labrador or Newfoundland and do not stop 

 along the coast of the United States. 



ESKIMO CURLEWS (Numenius borealis) 

 are but 13 in. in length, have short, little curved 

 bills and differ otherwise from the preceding 

 species as explained above. They bred in 

 Arctic regions, migrated in close flocks along 

 the coast to southern South America and re- 

 turned through the Mississippi Valley; they 

 are at present practically extinct. 



LONG-BILLED CURLEW 

 HUDSONIAN CURLEW 



40 



