. . . And sometimes, during northeast storms, tremendous numbers of the curlews would be carried in from the Atlantic Ocean to the beaches of New England, where at times they would land in a state of great exhaustion, and they could be chased and easily knocked down with clubs when they attempted to fly. Often they alighted on Nantucket in such numbers that the shot supply of the island would become exhausted and the slaughter would have to stop until more shot could be secured from the mainland.
The gunner′s name for them was “dough-bird,” for it was so fat when it reached us in the fall that its breast would often burst open when it fell to the ground, and the thick layer of fat was so soft that it felt like a ball of dough. It is no wonder that it was so popular as a game bird, for it must have made a delicious morsel for the table. It was so tame and unsuspicious and it flew in such dense flocks that it was easily killed in large numbers. . . . Two Massachusetts market gunners sold $300 worth from one flight. . . . Boys offered the birds for sale at 6 cents apiece. . . . In 1882 two hunters on Nantucket shot 87 Eskimo curlew in one morning. . . . By 1894 there was only one dough-bird offered for sale on the Boston market.