444 The Water-fowl Family 



last of July the old birds have pushed on, leaving 

 the young to Nature's care, knowing she will turn 

 them in the same flight south. 



ESKIMO CURLEW 

 (Numenius borealis) 



Adult male and female Top of head, dusky, streaked with buff, 

 and without central light stripe ; rest of head, neck, and lower 

 parts, light buff; cheeks and neck, streaked, the breast, sides, 

 flanks with V-shaped markings of brown ; axillars and lining of 

 wing, pale cinnamon, the axillars barred with dusky ; upper parts, 

 spotted dusky and buff; the wing-coverts, grayish brown, with 

 dusky streaks ; rump and upper tail-coverts, dusky and light 

 buff; tail, gray, with brownish bars; bill, black; iris, brown; 

 legs and feet, greenish brown. Other plumages similar. 



Measurements Length, 13.50 inches; wing, 8 inches; culmen, 3 

 inches ; tarsus, 2 inches. 



Eggs Four in number; ground color, olive-drab, with irregular 

 blotches of dark sepia; measure 2.10 by 1.80 inches. 



Habitat Breeds on the Barren Grounds from the Anderson River 

 east, probably in Cumberland and Greenland, and possibly in 

 Alaska. Winters from Louisiana ( ?) and the West Indies, 

 throughout South America to Cape Horn, but chiefly on the 

 plains of Argentina and Patagonia. Formerly an abundant 

 migrant through the western Mississippi Valley, and tolerably 

 common on the Atlantic Coast in fall ; rare between the coast 

 and the Mississippi, and not reported from farther west than 

 Texas, except once from California ; now migrating through the 

 Mississippi Valley in greatly reduced numbers, and very rare on 

 the Atlantic Coast. Has been reported in the migration from 

 northeastern Siberia, St. Michael, and the Pribilof Islands, 

 Alaska, the Galapagos and Falkland Islands, Bermuda, and 

 Great Britain. 



An uncertain bird, the Eskimo curlew is not 

 common on the eastern coast of the United 



