Snipe, Sandpipers, etc. 



crown dusky brown, with a buff central stripe ; the rest of head, 

 neck, and under parts light buff; a brownish streak running 

 through the eye, and the neck and breast spotted with brown. 

 Flying up the Atlantic coast from Patagonia, the southern limits 

 of its winter quarters, the Jack curlew sometimes loiters awhile in 

 May on our mud flats and marshes before continuing in V-shaped 

 flocks up to the south shore of the St. Lawrence (but not across 

 it), then due north to Hudson Bay, where the nests are built. 

 Evidently nesting duties are soon ended, for returning migrants 

 commonly reach Long Island from July to October. No one has 

 a good reason to give for shooting these birds, yet it is certain 

 that whereas they were once abundant they are now almost rare. 

 (Illustration facing p. 209.) 



The Eskimo Curlew, Fute, Doe or Dough Bird, Short-billed 

 or Little Curlew (Numenius borealis); about thirteen inches long, 

 its short, decurved bill measuring less than two and a half inches, 

 has blackish brown upper parts spotted with buff; the crown 

 streaked, but without the distinct central line that marks the 

 head of the Jack curlew; the under parts buffy or whitish, the 

 breast streaked ; the sides and under wing coverts barred with 

 black. En route from the Arctic regions, where it nests, to 

 Patagonia, where it winters, this is a very common species at 

 times. The prairie lands adjacent to the Mississippi, its favorite 

 highway, hold "immense flocks" in August and later, it is 

 said ; but very few stragglers reach the Atlantic shores. Just as 

 the Jack curlew scrapes acquaintance with the willet, godwit, 

 and other sandpipers on our beaches, so this curlew associates 

 with the upland "plover," the golden plover, and other birds of 

 the interior in this country and on the pampas covered plains of 

 the Argentine Republic. In the Barren Grounds and across the 

 continent from Greenland to Behring Straits, the Eskimo curlew 

 nests. Its whistle is less harsh and loud than its long-billed 

 cousin's, but in their habits generally these three curlews are 

 alike. 



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