Supplement to the Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 Excerpt: ... the Long-billed species was so much more common in proportion to the Hudsonian in former days up to the seventies, that the latter species was considered rare. The following quotations from Wayne's1 "Birds of South Carolina" put a different light on the subject and are of great interest. They confirm the statements of Maynard who found the Longbilled Curlew " not uncommon " at Ipswich between 1867 and 1872, and the Hudsonian Curlew "very rare." Wayne says of the Hudsonian Curlew: " This species supplanted the Long-billed Curlew between the years 1883 and 1885, for previous to these dates the former species was rare, but it gradually became more abundant each year until it established itself firmly in great numbers. The result was that the Long-billed Curlew was driven from its accustomed range by a smaller species, in the struggle for existence." He says that the Long-billed Curlew "is now almost extinct on the South Carolina Coast, while it once swarmed in countless multitudes. Since 1885 it has been supplanted by the Hudsonian Curlew (N. hudsonicus), which is still exceedingly abundant during the spring and autumn migrations.... I do not think that americanus has been exterminated by being shot, but that it has changed its route of migration." I once watched a large bird of this species, probably a female, feeding on the mud-flats of Clark's Pond. It probed with the bill partly open sometimes forcing it half its length into the mud. Later the bird flew up into the pasture on the hills and pursued and ate grasshoppers and other insects. 129 266 Numenius borealis (J. R. Forst.). Esk1mo Curlew; "Dough-b1rd." Transient visitor, accidental in the spring, very rare in the autumn. August 24 to Septembe...