( 283 ) 

 THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 



NUMENIUS HUDSONICUS, LatH. 

 PLATE CCXXXVII. Male. 



The habits of this species, which until a few years ago was always 

 confounded with the Esquimaux Curlew, Numenius borealis, are yet in a 

 great measure unknown. Every person who writes on American birds 

 repeats, that it arrives at Hudson's Bay, breeds farther north, &c. ; but 

 none has yet given any of those details so necessary to enable the student 

 of nature to judge in what respects this species resembles, or differs 

 from others, at the season of reproduction. During my visit to Labra- 

 dor, 1 made diligent inquiry respecting it and the Esquimaux Curlew, 

 but I obtained no information farther than that the latter is extremely 

 abundant for a few weeks in early autumn, and that the present species 

 was entirely unknown. Even Mr Jones and his sons, who had probably 

 kiUed thousands of the species just mentioned, had never seen it in the 

 course of their long residence at Bras d'Or. Nor is our information re- 

 specting their winter retreats much better, for scarcely any of them are 

 ever seen in the colder months within the limits of the United States, and 

 their movements during their migrations are more rapid than those of 

 most water birds. In short, I am unable to present you with such an ac- 

 count of them as I could have wished. 



I have found this species abundant on the shores of New Jersey ii^ 

 the month of May, and there they remain a few weeks. I once saw a 

 large flock of them near Charleston, in the month of December, and I 

 have found them in the Boston market in September. None were ever seen 

 by me in any part of the interior, where, indeed, it is probable they very 

 seldom make their appearance. As I have nothing of any importance to 

 add, I shall present you with a few extracts, from Wilson and Nuttall, 

 both of whom have had opportunities of observing this species. 



" The Short-billed Curlew," says the former, " arrives in large flocks 

 on the sea-coast of New Jersey early in May, from the south, frequents 

 the salt-marshes, muddy shores, and inlets, feeding on small worms and 

 minute shell-fish. They are most commonly seen on mud-flats at low 

 water, in company with various other waders ; and at high water roam 



