CURLEWS. 



61 



Their cry, which is shrill and penetrating, is uttered with such 

 various degrees of rapidity as to produce very different effects. 

 They are also very cautious, and unusually shy. 



Audubon states that he had ocular demonstration of the fact that, 

 as its name imports, this species actually turns over stones and 

 other objects to search for food, and gives the following interestino- 

 account of the proceedings of four of these birds, which he observed 

 on the beach of Galveston island : " They merely," he says, " ran 

 a little distance out of our course, and, on our returning, came 

 back immediately to the same place. This they did four different 

 times, and after we were done, remained busily engaged in search- 

 ing for food. None of them were more than fifteen or twenty 

 yards distant, and I was delighted to see the ingenuity with which 

 they turned over the oyster-shells, clods of mud, and other small 

 bodies left exposed by the retiring tide. Whenever the object was 

 not too large, the bird bent its legs to half their length, placed its 

 bill beneath it, and with a sudden, quick jerk of the head, pushed 

 it off, when it quickly picked up the food which was thus exposed 

 to view, and walked deliberately to the next shell to perform the 

 same operation. In some instances, when the clusters of oyster- 

 shells or clods of mud were too heavy to be removed in the ordi- 

 nary manner, they would not only use the bill and head, but also 

 the breast, pushing the object with all their strength, and remind- 

 ing me of the labor which I have undergone in turning over a 

 large turtle. Among the sea-weeds, which had been cast on the 

 shore, they used only the bill, tossing the garbage from side to side 

 with a dexterity extremely pleasant to behold." 



Upon the coast of Cape May and Egg Harbor this species is 

 known by the name of the " Horse-foot Snipe," from the fact that 

 it subsists during a portion of the summer almost entirely on the 

 spawn and eggs of the great " king crab," called by the common 

 people the " horse-foot." This spawn may often be seen by bushels 

 in the hollows and eddies on the coast. This species is nine inches 

 long and eighteen across the span of the wing ; the wing measures 

 six inches and the tail six inches and a half. In the young the 

 plumage is a mixture of blackish-brown and rust-yellow, the fore 

 part of the bod}- being grayish-black. 



The Esquimaux Curlew, or Dough-bird. (Numenius borealis.) 



Fig. 2. 



This species is an occasional visitant to almost every part of the 

 North American continent, and in the course of its migrations it 

 penetrates into the remote territories of the West, along the great val- 

 ley of the Mississippi, and extending its wanderings into the south- 

 ern hemisphere as far as Brazil and Paraguay. It winters in the 

 South, and arrives at the eastern sea-coasts early in May. It ap- 

 pears more or less numerous in flocks in the salt marshes, on the 

 muddy shores, and about the inlets, and is also found near the 

 so-called mud-flats at low water, mingling with other wading 

 birds. According to Dr. Coues : "The Curlews associate in 

 flocks of every size, from three to as many thousand, but they 

 generally fly in so loose and straggling a manner that it is rare to 

 kill more than half a dozen at a shot. When they wheel, how- 

 ever, in any of their many beautiful evolutions, they close together 

 in a more compact body, and offer a more favorable opportunity 

 to the gunner. Their flight is firm, direct, very swift, when nec- 

 essary much protracted, and is performed with regular, rapid 

 beats. They never sail, except when about to alight, when the 

 wings are much incurved downward, in the manner of most 

 waders. As their feet touch the ground, their long, pointed 

 wings are raised over the back, until the tips almost touch, and 

 then deliberately folded, much in the manner of the Solitary Sand- 

 piper (Rhyacophilus solitarius). Their note is an often-repeated, 

 soft, mellow, though clear whistle, which may be easily imitated. 

 By this means they can readily be decoyed within shot, if the im- 



itation is good and the gunner is careful to keep concealed. The 

 smaller the flock the more easily are they allured, and a single 

 individual rarely fails to turn his course toward the spot whence 

 the sound proceeds. When in very extensive flocks they have a 

 note which, when uttered by the whole number, I can compare to 

 nothing but the chattering of a flock of Blackbirds. When 

 wounded and taken in hand, they emit a very loud, harsh scream, 

 like that of a common hen under similar circumstances, which 

 cry they also utter when pursued. 



" Their food consists almost entirely of the crow-berry {Emfe- 

 trum nigrum), which grows on all the hill-sides in astonishing 

 profusion. It is also called the « bear-berry' and ' curlew-berry.' 

 It is a small berry, of a deep purple color, almost black, growing 

 upon a procumbent, running kind of heath, the foliage of which 

 has a peculiar moss-like appearance. This is their principal and 

 favorite food, and the whole intestine, the vent, the legs, the bill, 

 throat, and even the plumage, are more or less stained with the 

 deep purple juice. They are also very fond of a species of small 

 snail that adheres to the rock in immense quantities, to procure 

 which they frequent the land-washes at low tide. Food being so 

 abundant, and so easily obtained, they become excessively fat. In 

 this condition they are most delicious eating, being tender, juicy, 

 and finely flavored ; but, as might be expected, they prove a very 

 difficult job for the taxidermist. 



"Although the Curlews were in such vast numbers, I did not 

 find them so tame as might be expected, and as I had been led to 

 suppose by previous representations. I was never able to walk 

 openly within shooting distance of a flock, though I was told it 

 was often done. The most successful method of obtaining them is 

 to take such a position as they will probably fly over in passing 

 from one feeding ground to another. They may then be shot 

 with ease, as they rarely fly high at such times. The perti- 

 nacity with which they cling to certain feeding-grounds, even 

 when much molested, I saw strikingly illustrated on one occasion. 

 The tide was rising and about to flood a muddy flat, of perhaps an 

 acre in extent, where their favorite snails were in great quantities. 

 Although six or eight gunners were stationed upon the spot, and 

 kept up a continual round of firing upon the poor birds, they con- 

 tinued to fly distractedly about over our heads, notwithstanding the 

 numbers that every moment fell. They seemed in terror lest they 

 should lose their accustomed fare of snails that day. On another 

 occasion, when the birds had been so harassed for several hours 

 as to deprive them of all opportunity of feeding, great numbers of 

 them retired to a very small island, or rather a large pile of rocks, 

 a few hundred yards from the shore, covered with sea-weed and, 

 of course, with snails. Flock after flock alighted on it, till it was 

 completely covered with the birds, which there, in perfect safety, 

 obtained their morning meal." 



" On their return in autumn," says Nuttall, " they are remark- 

 ably gregarious, each company seeming to follow some temporary 

 leader; and, on starting to fly, a sort of watch-cry is heard, re- 

 sembling the whistling pronunciation of the word bee-bee. n On 

 their arrival from the north, they are very fat, plump, and well 

 flavored. They are sought out by epicures, and enhance the value 

 of a table entertainment. This bird is fifteen inches long and 

 twenty-seven inches broad. 



The Hudsonian Curlew. (Numenius hudsonicus.) 

 Fig. 3- 



This species appears to be much less abundant than the pre- 

 ceding, although it occupies the same territory. Wilson says: 

 " It arrives in large flocks on the sea-coast of New Jersey early in 

 May, from the South, and 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 



