THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 43 



appearance on these occasions is very interesting: they collect together from 

 the marshes as if by premeditated design, rise to a great height in the air, 

 usually an hour before sunset, and, forming in one vast line, keep up a con- 

 stant whistling on their way to the north, as if conversing with one another 

 to render the journey more agreeable. Their flight is then 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 dewberries are ripe, these birds some- 

 times frequent the fields, in company with the Long-billed Curlews, where 

 brambles abound; soon get very fat, and are at that time excellent eating." 



Nuttall sa) 7 s, "From the middle of August to the beginning of September, 

 they arrive in the vicinity of Massachusetts' Bay, and other parts of New 

 England, frequenting the pastures as well as marshes, and fatten on grass- 

 hoppers and berries, till the time of their departure, about the close of 

 September; and they wholly disappear from New Jersey, on their way to 

 the south, early in the month of November." 



I have only to add, that, having compared specimens of the present species 

 with the Whimbrel of Europe, Numenius Phseojms, I am satisfied that they 

 are perfectly distinct. 



EsaciMADx Curlew, Scolopax borealis, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 92. 



Numenius hudsonicus, Bonap. Syn., p. 314. 



Numenius hudsonicus, Hudsonian Curlew, Swains, and Rich., F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. 



p. 377. 

 Esgiuimaux Curlew, Numenius hudsonicus, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 97. 

 Hudsonian Curlew, Numenius hudsonicus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 283; vol. v. p. 



589. 



Male, 18, 33. 



Passes from Texas northward, returning in autumn. Abundant in the 

 middle districts at both periods. Breeds at Hudson's Bay, and farther north. 



Adult Male. 



Bill much longer than the head, very slender, sub-cylindrical, compressed, 

 slightly arched. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the 

 sides, excepting at the base, rounded, and marked with a narrow groove ex- 

 tending more than two-thirds of its length, the ridge rather flattened at the 

 base, convex and narrower towards the end, the edges rather obtuse. Nostrils 

 basal, lateral, longitudinal, linear. Lower mandible with the dorsal line 

 arched, or nearly parallel to that of the upper, the angle extremely narrow 

 and extended to near the end, the sides at the base nearly erect with a 

 shallow groove close to the rather obtuse edge; the tips obtuse, and about 

 equal in length. 



