SC()M)PA('[I).K - THK SNIPK KANfll-V - NI'NfKXrrS. 



319 



Tlic Smaller KskiiiKi Ciiricw, or '• Doii^'li-liiid," as it is called in New Hn.^laml — 

 ill (listiiiftioii tidiii llif lari,'!'!' //iii/son!iiin — lias a widely exti'iided (listiiliiitimi over 

 iicaily tiie wlinle (il Noitli aiid Smitli Aiiieriea. It is iiifliided iiy Ueiidiaidt aiiiuin,' 

 ihr iiirds III' (ireeidaiid, ami iPiolpalply (■oii't'ctly. tliniii^li liis cvideiirc was iiilei'eidial 

 iitlier than positive. It lias iiccn (liitaiiifd at Koit \ iiUoii l),\ Mi >si.s. .MePmij^al, 

 Liit'kliart, and Jones, hut was loiind nowlieic in Alaska west or sontli of that point. 

 Il lias liecM detected oil no |iiirt ol' the I'acitic coast, so tar as I am awaic. althoii;,'h 



|>r. Ilecrmatin speaks of it as common in the San {''lancisco maikcl. It has not 1 ii 



(ililaiiied theie liy any ol' the cdliectors, and Dr. ('()o|ier has no doiilil tlial l>i'. Ilccr- 

 iiiaiin must iiave had nd'erence to the IIiiiIsihi'iiks. It hrceds liiiou,v;hoiil all the 

 nnrthci'ii poitions ot North America, to the very holders and islands (d' the .Vict ie 

 Sea. Several siiecimeiis have hein taken in (iieat iSritain. Where it passes its 

 uintei'H, or the extent of its wand, liiij^s Ironi Noveiiiher to April, is only ini|)ert'ectly 

 known. It is not j^iveii as oceiirriiif,' in St. I'roix. Cuha. .lamaica, or St. l)omin,!,'o. 

 I.i'iitaud mentions the capture ol' only a siiij,de specimen (d' this species in 'I'rinidad; 

 this was taken in a dry meadow in the month (d' Septemher, It ap|iears to he e(pially 

 rare in Central .\merica, where only a siic^le specimen (d' it is recorded as having 

 heeii taken — hy Mr. '-'. ( )weii, at .San (leronimo. in (iuatemala. It occurs in its nii},'ra- 

 lidiis on the (Jult'-coa; t (d' Mexico, hut in what nuniher. and tor how lon.i,' a period it 

 is lound, is not known with accuracy. Mr. Uresser met with it in sprinj; at San 

 Antonio, where it was more common than the Jlitilsniiiiiis, hut not so ahundant as 

 the /(i>i(/!riififr!s. J)r. Merrill also speaks of this species as heinj; ahundant. diiriiii^ 

 its mif4i"itions. in the same rej^ioiis, and he is eonlidcnt that some s|)cnd the winter 

 ill the valley ot the hower Hio (Iraiide. 



Accordiii.Lj to the ohservations id" Mr. Ntdson, this Curlew passes in eoiisiderahlo 

 iiiimiiers thron^h the interior in its mi,t,'rations. He speaks of it as rather common 

 ill Northern Illinois during; these movements. It is said to arrive a little later than 

 the //iiflsiiiiicits, ]iasses north with short delay, and returns ahoiit the last ot Se|)- 

 triiil)er and in Uetoher, fretiueiitiii}; the wet jirairies in comiiany with the tJoldeii 

 Plover. 



The tacts that tliLs species is of such rare occurrence in the West Indies and in 

 Central America; that it is I'onnd with so much a[iparent uncevtaiidy on the .\tlan- 

 tic roast; that its aiipearauce may almost always he explaiueil hy the interruiition 

 (d' its Hight hy storms; and that it is nowhere to he I'ound within our limits duriiifj 

 the winter — all this jxiints to South America as its residence durinjf that .season. 

 \\ V inter also that its nii,i,'ratioiis, hoth in the tall and in the spriiij,', are made in loii}^ 

 ciiiitinuoiis Hi^dits, without any stoppage on the way. except when .such is caii.seil hy 

 stress of weather, unfavorahle winds, foi^s. and the like. In this opinion -we are 

 strenjftlicned h}- the fact that this hird may he h)Uiul on the Ania/ou and in various 

 ether portions cd' Urazil as early as Septemhi-r, where Natterer procured .specimens in 

 I'tnisiderahle nunihers. Darwin met with it at lUienos Ayres, and Liehteu.stein found 

 it at Jlontevideo. 



We also have the eontirmation given hy ]\Ir. H. Durnford, in his "Notes on 

 the liirds of Central Patagonia" (" This,'' 1S7S. ji. 404), where he states that he wit- 

 nessed the jiassage of large migratory flocks of this sjieeies, from the 8th to the lOtli 

 of t (ctoher, through the valley of the C'hupat, in latitude 4.")° S. They made hut a 

 sluut stay in that valley — two specimens only having heen procured — and were 

 not scon again. 



In this connection the fact, noted hy Dr. Lincecum, is not without interest — that 

 this species, known there as the " Curlew Sandpiper," occurred in his neighhorhood 



m 



-i 



•M, 



