ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 71 



I was the more astonished at this, that at that period the Pigeon Hawk 

 and Petit Caporal Hawk were pretty abundant. 



They rose from the ground by a single quick spring, in the manner 

 of a snipe, when they would cut backward, forward, and all around, in a 

 very curious manner, and would now and then pause in the air, like a 

 Hawk, remaining stationary for a few moments with their head meeting 

 the wind, when immediately afterwards they would all suddenly alight. 

 In calm and fair weather, they were more shy than at other times. 

 While on their passage across the Gulf, they flew high in close bodies, 

 and with their usual speed, by no means in regular lines, nor in any or- 

 der, but much in the manner of the Migratory Pigeon, now and then 

 presenting a broad front, and again coming together so as to form a close 

 body. 



Those which we procured were extremely fat and juicy, especially the 

 young birds, of which we ate a good many. Mr Jones, an old set- 

 tler of Bras d'Or, and his son, shoot a great number every season, which 

 they salt for winter food. They informed us that these birds pass over 

 the same tract about the middle of May, on their way northward, and 

 that they never found them breeding in their neighbourhood. Little dif- 

 ference could be observed at that season between the males and females, 

 or between the old and young birds. 



NuMENius BOEEALis, Lath. Ind. Omith. vol. ii. p. 712 — Ch. Bonaparte, Amer. 



Omith. vol. iv. p. 26. fig. 3 Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. .314 — 



Richardson and Swainson, Fauna Boreali Americana, part ii. p. 378. 



Esquimaux Curlew, Numenius bokealis, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 101. 



Plate CCVIII. Adult Male, Fig. 1. 



Bill much longer than the head, very slender, subcyUndrical, com- 

 pressed, sHghtly arched. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly 

 arched, the sides, excepting at the base, nearly perpendicular, and marked 

 with a narrow groove extending more than two-thirds of its length, edges 

 rather obtuse. Nostrils basal, lateral, longitudinal, eUiptical. Lower 

 mandible with the dorsal line arched, the angle extremely narrow and 

 extended to near the end, the sides convex, the edges rather obtuse, the 

 tips obtuse, that of the upper mandible longer. 



Head rather small, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long, slender. 

 Body slender. Feet of moderate length, slender. Toes small ; first very 



