Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Specimens: 4
STATUS: Accidental.
Hahn (1963:188) lists four specimens, none dated. Reinhardt (1861:10) states
that "one of them was brought from Greenland in 1858, and is said to have been
shot at Julianchaab [ Julianehaab; 61°+/-N]."
OTHER LOCALITY: Disco (Disko) Bay (69°N+/-; Cooke 1910:75).
6 September 1855 Kincardine
7 September 1879 Kent (Questioned)
10 September 1887 Scilly Islands
21 September 1880 Kincardine
28 September 1878 Aberdeen
November 1852 Suffolk
Prior to 1870 Suffolk
All were for single birds except for the November record of two.
Concerning the 1855 bird: "I was standing...at the top of a hill on the 'muir'
[moor]....l looked and saw a bird walking slowly about, just as a Plover would
do. .It seemed very much disinclined to rise from the ground; and allowed me
to get within twenty yards of it....[The] specimen...was so plump, that, to
use the homely expression of the bird-stuffer, 'the very oil was running out
of it' " (Longmuir 1885:265-266).
The 1878 specimen "was a male, weighing eight ounces. ..The stomach contained
crowberries, some flies, and a caterpillar" (Harting 1879:135). The stragglers
were able to find habitat and food similar to what they used in part of North
America.
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/curlew/north.htm
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Page Last Modified: Friday, 01-Feb-2013 19:08:29 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]
