THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW 



BY A. C. BENT 



A striking case of the survival of the fittest is seen when we com- 

 pare the relative abundance of the three common species of North 

 American curlews today with their status fifty years ago. Whereas, 

 at that time the Hudsonian Curlew was the rarest of the three, it is 

 now by far the commonest. 



The reasons for the Hudsonian curlew's success in the struggle 

 for existence are not hard to find. Its breeding-grounds are in the 

 far North, where it is never disturbed ; it has no dangerous migration- 

 route; it does not, ordinarily, migrate in very large flocks, which are 

 susceptible to vicissitudes of weather and great slaughter at the 

 hands of gunners; but, above all, it is a shy, wary, wily bird, quite 

 capable of taking care of itself and well-fitted to survive. Like the 

 crow, it is more than a match for its enemies. 



The Hudsonian curlew, Jack curlew, short-billed curlew, or 

 Jack, as it is called, has often been mistaken by gunners for one of 

 the other two species, and some confusion seems to have existed, in 

 regard to it, among the early writers on ornithology. 



There are certain characters, however, by which this species may 

 be recognized at any age. The long-billed curlew is much larger, 

 the crown of its head is uniformly streaked, without any median 

 stripe, and its axillars have no distinct bars ; whereas the Hudsonian 

 has a dusky crown with a light median stripe, and its axillars are 

 distinctly barred with dusky. The Eskimo curlew may readily be 

 distinguished by its uniformly dusky primaries; whereas in the Hud- 

 sonian the primaries have distinct buff spots or partial bars on the 

 inner webs. The bristle-thighed curlew bears a close superficial 

 resemblance to the Hudsonian, but its primaries are like the Eskimo 

 curlew's, and its general coloration above, especially on the tail, is 

 much more rufous. 



The Hudsonian curlew is widely distributed over nearly all of 

 North America and part of South America. Its breeding-range has 

 not been fully worked out, but it is known to breed on the Barren 

 Grounds of northern Mackenzie, and on the coast of Alaska from the 

 mouth of the Yukon to Kotzebue Sound. Its principal winter range 

 is on the Pacific Coast of South America from Ecuador to southern 

 Chile, where it is very abundant; it also winters from Lower Cali- 

 fornia to the coasts of Guatemala and southern Honduras; on the 



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