A474 ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 
to render the journey more agreeable. Their flight is thea more slow 
and regular, that the feeblest may keep up with the line of march; while 
the glittering of their beautifully-speckled wings, sparkling in the sun, 
produces altogether a very pleasing spectacle. : 
In the month of June, while the dew-berries -are ripe, these birds 
sometimes frequent the fields, in company with the Long-billed Cur- 
lews, where brambles abound; soon get very fat, and are at that time 
excellent eating. Those who wish to shoot them fix up a shelter of 
brushwood in the middle of the field, and by that means kill great 
numbers, In the early part of spring, and, indeed, during the whole 
time that they frequent the marshes, feeding on shell-fish, they are 
much less esteemed for the table. 
Pennant informs us that the Esquimaux Curlews “were seen in 
flocks innumerable on the hills about Chatteaux Bay, on the Labrador 
coast, from August the 9th to September 6th, when they all disap- 
peared, being on their way from their northern breeding place.” He 
adds, “They kept on the open grounds, fed on the Empetrum nigrum, 
and were very fat and delicious. They arrive at Hudson’s Bay in April, 
or early in May; pair and breed to the north of Albany Fort among 
the woods; return in August to the marshes, and all disappear in Sep- 
tember.” * About this time, they return in accumulated numbers to 
the shores of New Jersey, whence they finally depart for the south 
early in November. 
~The Esquimaux Curlew is eighteen inches long, and thirty-two 
inches in extent; the bill, which is four inches and a half long, is 
black towards the point, and a pale purplish flesh color near the base; 
upper part of the head, dark brown, divided by a narrow stripe of 
brownish white; over each eye extends a broad line of pale drab; 
iris, dark colored; hind part of the neck, streaked with dark brown; 
fore part and whole breast, very pale brown; upper part of the body, 
pale drab, centred and barred with dark brown, and edged with spots 
of white on the exterior vanes ; three first primaries, black, with white 
shafts ; rump and tail-coverts, barred with dark brown; belly, white ; 
vent, the same, marked with zigzag lines of brown; whole lining of 
the wing, beautifully barred with brown, on a dark cream ground; 
legs and naked thighs, a pale lead color. 
* Arct. Zool. vol. ii. p. 163. Phil. Trans. Ixii. 411 
