Curlews and Whimbrels 



3 6 9 



sive dry plains and prairies remote from water. They feed on mollusks, insects 

 of various kinds, worms, crustaceans, and crayfish, which they secure by probing 

 with their long bills, and in fall they frequently feed on berries, then becoming 

 very fat and considered excellent eating. Their loud, prolonged whistling note 

 is very commonly heard during the breeding season. The Hudsonian Curlew 

 (N. hudsonicus} is smaller, being only seventeen or eighteen inches long, and may 

 be known by the dusky brown wings and the crown with two broad, lateral stripes 

 of brownish dusky, enclosing a narrower middle stripe of buffy. This species 

 is also found over the whole of North America, but breeds only in the Arctic 

 regions, and winters from the Gulf States to the southern extremity of South 

 America. It keeps more to the coasts during its migrations, but in general 

 resembles the others 

 in habits; its call 

 note, however, is 

 quite distinct. The 

 smallest of our 

 species is the Es- 

 kimo Curlew (N. 

 borealis), which 

 has a total length 

 of only thirteen or 

 fourteen inches. It 

 is similar in color- 

 ation to the last, but 

 has the crown 

 streaked with dusky 

 and lacks the lighter 

 median stripe. It 

 is found in northern 

 and eastern North 



America, but breeding only far northward. They were observed abundantly 

 in Labrador by Dr. Coues, who says they associate in "flocks of every size, 

 from three to as many thousands, but generally flies in a loose, straggling 

 manner. Their flight is firm, direct, very swift, when necessary much pro- 

 tracted, and is performed with regular, rapid beats. They never sail, except 

 when about to alight; as their feet touch the ground, their long, pointed 

 wings are raised over their back, until the tips almost touch, and then delib- 

 erately folded. Their note is an often-repeated, soft, mellow, though clear, 

 whistle, which may be easily imitated." He found them feeding almost entirely 

 on the crow-berry (Empetrum), which grows on the hills in the greatest profusion. 

 According to Mr. William Brewster, there is reason to believe that the Eskimo 

 Curlew is now extinct. The only other American species is the Bristle-thighed 

 Curlew (N. tahitiensis), so called from the fact that the thighs are provided with 

 numerous elongated bristles which project far beyond the tips of the feathers. 

 It is confined to the northwest coasts of North America and the Pacific Islands. 



FlG. 125. Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus. 



