HABITS OF THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW IN 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
BY GEORGE H. MACKAY. 
Of the various shore birds which are visitants to New Eng- 
land during migration the most difficult to take, on account of its 
extreme vigilance, is the Hudsonian Curlew (. Numcnius hud- 
35 
oeing too shy and too limited in number to make it any object, 
eitherfor gain or for pleasure. During these seventeen years there 
have never been more than one hundred birds on an average liv- 
ing on the above islands each year, and for the past few years I 
have noticed a falling off from this number. Many of them have, 
I think, passed one or more summers on these islands, for they 
appear about the same date and in the same numbers, frequent- 
ing the identical localities, and flying from place to place in about 
the same manner. Thirty-five years or more ago there used to 
be many more than at present, and according to a reliable account 
there were some fifteen hundred birds, during the summer of 1833, 
living on the two islands. 
They were apparently as shy then as now, for even then it was 
considered essential in order to take them to mortise a hole in the 
ground for concealment in the locality which they frequented or 
passed over, care being taken to remove the soil taken out to 
some distance in a wagon in order that the place might appear 
perfectly natural. Stands were dug in the centre of a clump of 
bushes, as being less noticeable. In times past, on Cape Cod, I 
have used a hogshead, sunken level with the marsh, from which 
to shoot them, but even under such conditions I never secured 
more than nine in one day, and that only once. The Hudsonian 
Curlew is a very observing bird and perceives at once anything 
strange and out of harmony with the natural surroundings of any 
locality which it has been in the habit of frequenting, and in 
order to get a flock up to the decoys considerable care must be 
exercised. Single birds or pairs will, however, decoy fairly well 
if they have not been harassed. These birds have a way of set- 
ting their wings stationary and sailing, when headed for the de- 
coys, at a distance of one hundred yards or more, the flock 
