60 Bird - Lore 



in the length of the bill, at various ages, that young birds with short bills are 

 often mistaken for Eskimo Curlew, and old birds with extra long bills are 

 often called Long-billed Curlew, or Sickle-bills. 



There are certain characters, however, by which this species may be 

 recognized at any age. The Long-billed Curlew is much larger, the crown of 

 its head is uniformly streaked, without any median stripe, and 

 Appearance its axillars have no distinct bars; whereas the Hudsonian has a 

 dusky crown with a light median stripe, and its axillars are 

 distinctly barred with dusky. The Eskimo Curlew may readily be distinguished 

 by its uniform dusky primaries; whereas in the Hudsonian the primaries 

 have distinct buff spots or partial bars on the inner webs. The Bristle-thighed 

 Curlew bears a close superficial resemblance to the Hudsonian, but its pri- 

 maries are like the Eskimo Curlew's, and its general coloration above, especially 

 on the tail, is much more rufous; the 'bristles' are not much in evidence in 

 young birds. 



The Hudsonian Curlew is widely distributed over nearly all of North 

 America and part of South America. Its breeding range has not been fully 

 worked out, but it is known to breed on the Barren Grounds of 

 Range northern Mackenzie, and on the coast of Alaska from the 



mouth of the Yukon to Kotzebue Sound. Its principal winter 

 range is on the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to southern Chile, 

 where it is very abundant ; it also winters from Lower California to the coasts 

 of Guatemala and southern Honduras; on the Atlantic coast its winter range 

 extends from British Guiana to the mouth of the Amazon River. Between 

 these two ranges it migrates over all the intervening regions, where it can 

 find suitable country, but mainly along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts; it has 

 occurred as a straggler only, in Greenland and Bermuda. 



The spring migration on the Atlantic coast reaches Florida during the 

 latter half of March, the Carolinas about the middle of April, and Massachu- 

 setts about the middle of May. The dates vary greatly in 

 Migration different seasons, the northward movement being very gradual 



and the migration period often much prolonged. On the Pacific 

 coast, the main flight appears in southern California about the middle of March, 

 progresses slowly northward, reaches Alaska about the middle of May, and 

 arrives on the breeding-grounds in northern Mackenzie by the end of May. 



Like most of the northern-breeding shore birds, the Hudsonian Curlew 

 moves off its breeding-grounds as soon as the young are able to shift for them- 

 selves, and begins its summer wanderings, or starts on its southward migra- 

 tion, early in July. There are two main lines of flight, down the east and west 

 coasts of the continent, as well as a more scattering flight through the central 

 valleys and plains. 



The eastward flight is from the west coast of Hudson Bay, where many 

 birds linger through August, to the coasts of New England and southward. A 



