SANDPIPERS 



(266) Numenius borealis 



(Forsler) (Lat., northemj. 



ESKIMO CURLEW; DOE BIRD. 

 Smallest of the curlews. Bill short, 

 slender and little curved. Readily 

 distinguished from the Hudsonian 

 Curlew, not only by the difference 

 in size, but because the crown of this 

 species is brownish, streaked with 

 lighter and with no median line; 

 the superciliarj' stripes are quite 

 prominent. L., 13.50; W., 8.50; 

 Tar., 1.75; B., 2.40. 



Range — Breeds on the barren 

 grounds of Mackenzie and migrates 

 chiefly through the interior to south- 

 ern South America. 



(267) WHIMBREL (Numenius 

 phsopus). {Linn.) An Old World 

 species breeding in northern Europe, 

 accidentally occurring in Greenland 

 and Nova Scotia. 



HUDSONIAN CURLEWS, or Jack Curlews, reside in 

 summer along our northwestern Arctic coast and in fall 

 migrate along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, where 

 they are at present more plentiful than the last species. Only 

 a limited number touch New England shores unless driven 

 in by storms, for they usually fly well ofi" shore from Nova 

 Scotia until the Virginia coast is reached. 



ESKIMO CURLEWS, or Dough-birds, only a few years 

 ago were regarded as much more abundant than other 

 curlews; to-day they are regarded as quite e.xtinct. Flocks 

 numbering into the thousands swept up the Mississippi 

 Valley or stopped to feed on the plains; to-day the capture of 

 an individual is an event to be chronicled in all ornithological 

 papers. They nested on the barren grounds of northern 

 Mackenzie. On their southern migration, they moved 

 eastward to Labrador, where they fattened on the crow- 

 berry, which grows there in abundance; leaving our shores 

 at that point, they swept southward over the ocean, not 

 stopping this side of the West Indies unless storms were 



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