144 BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



It is a bird of striking appearance and large size, but owing to excessive shoot- 

 ing it is now virtually extinct on the Atlantic Coast. Coues states that it was a 

 resident near Beaufort in 1871. 



127. Numenius hudsonicus (Lath.}. HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 



Ads. Upperparts grayish brown, the sides of the feathers with buff or whitish spots; rump 

 and tail barred with buffy and blackish; inner web of outer primaries and both webs of inner ones 

 barred with buffy or whitish and black; underparts buffy or whitish; neck and breast streaked and 

 sides and under wing-coverts barred with black. L., 17.00; W., 9.50; Tar., 2.20; B., 3.75. 



Remarks. Young birds often have the bill as short as in borealis from which, however, they 

 may always be distinguished by their barred primaries. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. Both Americas, breeding far northerly, and wintering from northern Mexico to south- 

 ern Chile. 



Range in North Carolina. Coastal region during the migrations. 



The Hudsonian Curlew is our second largest shore-bird, now that the preceding 

 species is no longer with us. Its flight is strong and regular, not unlike that of 

 some ducks, and it is wild enough to make the gunner experience some thrills of 

 satisfaction when he draws a specimen or two from his game bag at the close of a 

 day's beach shooting. In flight the neck is folded back, and the appearance of the 

 bird on the wing is generally that of compact strength and size, the long, curving 

 bill identifying it as a Curlew without fail. 



Bishop reports it from Pea Island as a rather rare migrant. Pearson and H. H. 

 Brimley observed this species on the mud-flats and marshes near Southport in 

 August of 1909. May 7-11, 1910, we found fifteen to twenty daily on the salt 

 marshes between Cape Fear and Lockwood's Folly. On April 29, 1911, a flock of 

 between twenty and thirty was seen flying over Orton Pond (Brunswick County), 

 heading towards the coast west of Southport. Both Pearson and H. H. Brimley 

 have found the bird more or less common on the North River marshes in Carteret 

 County, and at Wrightsville Sound near Wilmington. A pair was seen flying 

 south over New River Inlet by H. H. Brimley on August 4, 1918. 



21. FAMILY CHARADRIID>. PLOVERS 



The plovers are shore-birds with larger and rounder heads than the snipe and 

 sandpipers. The bill also is usually shorter than in those birds, and is shaped 

 somewhat like that of a pigeon. The wings are very long and pointed, and the hind 

 toe is usually absent, just the reverse of the case in the preceding family, in which 

 a hind toe is usually present. 



KEY TO GENERA 



1. Plumage of upperparts speckled. See 2. 



1. Plumage of upperparts not speckled. Neck with dark rings. See 3. 



2. Hind toe present, but very small. Squatarola. 



2. Hind toe wholly absent. Charadrius. 



3. Tail one-half or more length of wing, rump orange brown, unlike back, breast with two black 



rings. Oxyechus. 



3. Tail not one-half length of wing, rump same color as back, breast with not more than one 



black band. See 4. 



4. Bill as long as middle toe with claw. Ochthodromus. 

 4. Bill shorter than middle toe with claw. Mgialiiis. 



