70 ESQUIMAUX CURLEW.
ing for them, as was every fisherman in the harbour, these birds beingconsidered
there, as indeed they are, great delicacies. The birds at length
came, flock after flock, passed close round our vessel, and directed their
course toward the sterile mountainous tracts in the neighbourhood ; and
as soon as the sun's rays had dispersed the fogs that hung over the land,
our whole party went off in search of them.
I was not long in discovering that their stay on this coast was occasioned
solely by the density of the mists and the heavy gales that already
gave intimation of the approaching close of the summer; for whenever
the weather cleared up a little, thousands of them set off and steered in
a straight course across the broad Gulf of St Lawrence. On the contrary,
when the wind was high, and the fogs thick, they flew swiftly and
low over the rocky surface of the country, as if bewildered. Wherever
there was a spot that seemed likely to afford a supply of food, there the
Curlews abounded, and were easily approached. By the 12th of August,
however, they had all left the country.
In Labrador they feed on what the fishermen call the Curlew berry,
a small black fruit growing on a creeping shrub, not more than an inch
or two in height, and so abundant, that patches of several acres covered
the rocks here and there. When the birds were in search of these feeding
grounds, they flew in close masses, sometimes high, at other times
low, but always with remarkable speed, and performing beautiful evolutions
in the air. The appearance of man did not seem to intimidate them,
for they would alight so near us, or pass over our heads at so short a distance,
that we easily shot them. While on wring, they emitted an oft repeated
soft whistling note, but the moment they alighted they became silent.
They ran swiftly along, all in the same direction, picking up the
berries in their way, and when pursued, would immediately squat in the
manner of a snipe or partridge, sometimes even laying their neck and head
quite flat on the ground, until you came within a short distance, when,
at the single whistle of any one of the flock, they would all immediately
scream and fly off, rambling about for a while, and not unfrequently realighting
on the same spot. Now and then, however, their excursion
would last a long time, they would rise high in the air, make towards the
sea, and, as if aware of the unfavourable state of the weather for pursuing
their southward course, would return.
They continued to arrive at Bras d°Or for several days, in flocks which
seemed to me to increase in number. I saw no Hawks in their rear, and
ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 71
I was the more astonished at this, that at that period the Pigeon Hawk
and Petit Caporal Hawk were pretty abundant.
They rose from the ground by a single quick spring, in the manner
of a snipe, when they would cut backward, forward, and all around, in a
very curious manner, and would now and then pause in the air, like a
Hawk, remaining stationary for a few moments with their head meeting
the wind, when immediately afterwards they would all suddenly alight.
In calm and fair weather, they were more shy than at other times.
While on their passage across the Gulf, they flew high in close bodies,
and with their usual speed, by no means in regular lines, nor in any order,
but much in the manner of the Migratory Pigeon, now and then
presenting a broad front, and again coming together so as to form a close
body.
Those which we procured were extremely fat and juicy, especially the
young birds, of which we ate a good many. Mr JONES, an old settler
of Bras d'Or, and his son, shoot a great number every season, which
they salt for winter food. They informed us that these birds pass over
the same tract about the middle of May, on their way northward, and
that they never found them breeding in their neighbourhood. Little difference
could be observed at that season between the males and females,
or between the old and young birds.
NUMENIUS BOB.EAT.IS, Lath. Iiid. Omith. vol. ii. p. 712.—Ch. Bonaparte, Anier.
Ornith. vol. iv. p. 26. fig. 3—Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 314
Richardson and Stoainson, Fauna Boreali Americana, part ii. p. 378.
ESQUIMAUX CUBXEW, NUMENIUS BOREALIS, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 101.
Plate CCVIII. Adult Male. Fig. 1.
Bill much longer than the head, very slender, subcylindrical, compressed,
slightly arched. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly
arched, the sides, excepting at the base, nearly perpendicular, and marked
with a narrow groove extending more than two-thirds of its length, edges
rather obtuse. Nostrils basal, lateral, longitudinal, elliptical. Lower
mandible with the dorsal line arched, the angle extremely narrow and
extended to near the end, the sides convex, the edges rather obtuse, the
tips obtuse, that of the upper mandible longer.
Head rather small, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long, slender.
Body slender. Feet of moderate length, slender. Toes small; first very