SCOLOPACID.E - THE SNIPE FAMILY - NUMENIUS. 319 



The Smaller Eskimo Curlew, or ■• Dough-bird," as it is called in New England — 

 in distinction from the larger JIudxonicus — has a widely extended distribution over 

 nearly the whole of Xorth and South America. It is included by lleinhardt among 

 the birds of Greenland, and probably correctly, though his evidence was inferential 

 rather than positive. It has been obtained at Fort Yukon by jVIessrs. McDougal, 

 Lockhart, and Jones, but was found nowhere in Alaska west or south of that point. 

 It has been detected on no part of the Pacific coast, so far as I am aware, although 

 Dr. Heermanu speaks of it as common in the San Francisco market. It has not been 

 obtained there by any of the collector.^, and Dr. Cooper has no doul)t that Dr. Heer- 

 manu must have had reference to the Iludsonicus. It breeds tlir(}ugliout all the 

 northern portions of North America, to the very borders and islands of the Arctic 

 Sea. Several specimens have been taken in Great Britain. Where it passes its 

 winters, or the extent of its wanderings from November to April, is only imperfectly 

 known. It is not given as occurring iu St. Croix, Cuba, Jamaica, or St. Domingo. 

 Leotaud mentions the capture of ojdy a single specimen of this species iu Trinidad ; 

 this was taken in a dry meadow in the month of September. It appears to be equally 

 rare in Central America, where only a single specimen of it is recorded as having 

 been taken — by j\Ir. R. Owen, at San Geronimo, in Guatemala. It occurs in its migrar 

 tions on the Gulf-coast of Mexico, but in what number, and for how long a period it 

 is found, is not known with accuracy. Mr. Dresser met with it iu spring at San 

 Antonio, where it was more common than the Hiidsonkus, but not so abundant as 

 the loiKj'irostrh. Dr. ^Merrill also speaks of this species as being abundant, during 

 its migrations, in the same regions, and he is confident that some spend the winter 

 in the valley of the Lower Rio Grande. 



According to the observations of Mr. Xelson, this Curlew passes in considerable 

 numbers through the interior in its migrations. He speaks of it as rather common 

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

 the Hudsonicus, jiasses north with short delay, and returns about the last of Sep- 

 tember and in October, frequenting the wet prairies in company with the Golden 

 Plover. 



The facts that this species is of such rare occurrence in the West Indies and in 

 Central America ; that it is found with so much apparent uncertainty on the Atlan- 

 tic coast; that its appearance maj' almost always be explained by the interruption 

 of its flight by storms ; and that it is nowhere to be found within our limits during 

 the winter — all this points to South America as its residence during that season. 

 We infer also that its migrations, both in the fall and in the spring, are made in long 

 continuous flights, without any stoppage on the way, except when such is caused by- 

 stress of weather, unfavorable winds, fogs, and the like. In this opinion we are 

 strengthened by the fact that this bird may be found on the Amazon and in various 

 other portions of Brazil as early as September, where Natterer procured sfiecimens in 

 considerable numbers. Darwin met with it at Buenos Ayres, and Lichtenstein found 

 it at Montevideo. 



We also have the eontirmation given by Mr. H. Durnford, in his '•Notes on 

 the Birds of Central Patagonia " (" Ibis," 1878, p. 404), where he states that he wit- 

 nessed the passage of large migratory flocks of this species, from the 8th to the 10th 

 of October, through the valley of the Chupat, in latitude 45° S. They made but a 

 short stay in that valley — two specimens only having been procured — and were 

 not seen again. 



In this connection the fact, noted by Dr. Linceciun, is not without interest — that 

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



