. . ral ground color, warm buff; upper parts streaked and mot-tled with very dark brown or dusky, so much so that the back oftenappears blackish; head and neck streaked, rather than mottled. Theeffect of the distribution of the markings gives the sides of the headand neck, and particularly the under parts, a much lighter appearancethan the back; the top of the head, however, is darker, and there isa rather light line over the eye; no whitish stripe in center of or flight feathers plain, not spotted or barred; tail bar
. . ral ground color, warm buff; upper parts streaked and mot-tled with very dark brown or dusky, so much so that the back oftenappears blackish; head and neck streaked, rather than mottled. Theeffect of the distribution of the markings gives the sides of the headand neck, and particularly the under parts, a much lighter appearancethan the back; the top of the head, however, is darker, and there isa rather light line over the eye; no whitish stripe in center of or flight feathers plain, not spotted or barred; tail barredwith dusky brownish black; bill black; base of lower mandible paleor yellowish; legs grayish blue. Notes. — A soft, melodious whistle, bee, bee; a squeak like that of WilsonsTern, but finer (Mackay); and a low, conversational chatter (Coues). Season. — August to November. Range. — Eastern North America and South America, breeding on theBarren Grounds of northwestern Canada; wintering in Argentina andPatagonia. > Dutcher, William: Auk, 1894, p. Q. SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 417 History. The Eskimo Curlew is placed in the list of extinct speciesto call attention to the fact that this bird, the flocks of whichresembled in appearance and numbers the multitudes of thePassenger Pigeon, is now practically extinct. As in the caseof the Passenger Pigeon, it is not improbable that a few moresmall flocks or single specimens may yet be seen or taken;but it is too late to save the species. Its doom is sealed. Most of the so-called Dough-birds taken in recentyears have proved to be Hudsonian Curlews, which have alight stripe along the top of the crown. The Eskimo Curlewmay be distinguished at once by its unstriped dark crown, itssmall size, unbarred primaries, and small, slender bill. The history of this bird, so far _^as it is known to us, began in theeighteenth century. It was de-scribed by Forster in 1772 ( Royal Soc, London, 1772,Vol. LXII, pp. 411, 431
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjobherbe, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1912
