The Hudsonian Curlew 



In July, 1912, I found these Curlews breeding near Eagleville in the 

 Surprise Valley. It was, of course, way past hatching time, but the birds 

 were warily anxious for their young, and in the flooded meadows adjoining 

 Lower Lake one might see six or eight birds in the air at a time, some 

 quavering and some whistling. The normal notes, unlike the harsh ex- 

 pletives of near contact, are musical and weirdly beautiful, authentic 

 supertonic of the wild, which we can ill spare from our blighting and decor- 

 ous civilization. It is high time to retire this quaint and interesting fellow 

 from the list of putative "game birds" and to afford him absolute protec- 

 tion. The struggle for existence will be hard enough for him at best under 

 the new conditions, without our compassing his absolute destruction 

 merely that a few more light-hearted pots may boil. Curlews are still 

 common in a few spots where they have been wont to assemble for migra- 

 tions, but their total numbers have certainly been reduced to less than 

 one-tenth, probably nearer one-twentieth, of their former proportions. 

 What will be the use of life after the living are gone? 



No. 253 



Hudsonian Curlew 



A. O. U. No. 265. Phaeopus hudsonicus (Latham). 



Synonyms. — Jack Curlew. "Jack." American Whimbrel. 



Description. — Adult: Above blackish brown or dusky, spotted, streaked, and 

 barred with ochraceous buff; crown nearly uniform blackish with broken median 

 stripe of buffy; primary coverts and exposed webs of outer primaries black, the shaft 

 of the first primary white, the inner webs of the outer primaries and both webs of the 

 inner primaries and the secondaries deeply indented with ochraceous; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail barred with blackish and gray-ochraceous; underparts ochraceous-buff 

 (tilleul buff to vinaceous-buff) ; immaculate on chin, throat, and belly; sharply streaked 

 with dusky on sides of head, on neck all around, and the fore-breast; elsewhere wavy- 

 barred with dusky, heavily on sides of breast, sharply and regularly on axillaries; 

 lightly on flanks and under tail-coverts. Bill decurved, blackish above, lightening 

 at base of mandible; feet and legs black. Length 419. 1-457.2 (16.50-18.00); wing 

 247-6 (9-75); tail 100 (3.94); bill 88.9 (3.50); tarsus 57.9 (2.28). 



Recognition Marks. — Small crow size; mottled and streaked, dusky and pale 

 buff; rather stout decurved bill of moderate length; broad, blackish crown-stripes; beach- 

 haunting habits. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Eggs: 3 or 4; much as in preceding 

 species. Av. size 57.7 x 38.9 (2.27 x 1.57). 



General Range. — Breeds in Alaska from the mouth of the Yukon River and 

 along the Arctic Coast of North America. Migrates south chiefly along the Atlantic 

 and Pacific coasts through Mexico and the West Indies to the Galapagos, Chile, and 

 Brazil. 



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