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 says, “ 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 Phceopus, I am satisfied that they 
are perfectly distinct : 
Esquimaux 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. 877. 
Esquimaux 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-tliirds 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. 
