THE AUK
A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology Published by
THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS′ UNION
Lancaster, Pa.
General notes. Natural hybrids between Dendroica coronata and D. Auduboni. . . . Rivoli′s hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens) in Colorado. . . . Eskimo curlew in Texas. Two Eskimo curlews which appeared to be a mated pair were seen in March at Galveston, Texas, by the writer and a number of Houston observers. The birds were amongst a huge assemblage of marsh and shorebirds, including buff-breasted and other sandpipers, blackbellied plovers, eastern and western willets, various herons, and hundreds of Hudsonian curlews. All were feeding over a wide area of sand flats, shallow ponds and grassy patches on Galveston Island, which parallels the coast. Nearness of the Eskimo curlews to Hudsonians gave fine opportunity for comparison. Smaller size of the Eskimo and shorter length of bill were obvious, and movements of the birds, in brilliant midafternoon sunlight, clearly showed the large black wing area and lack of median head stripe. Fully an hour was spent checking every identification mark through eight-power glasses at a range of less than one hundred yards from our parked car. . . . As is often the case along the Texas Gulf Coast during spring migration, a heavy rainstorm and change of windfrom south to north during the previous night brought down a swarming visitation of migrants. —(Sgt.) Joseph M. Heiser, Jr. . . .
A Summary of the Spring Migration. Undoubtedly the most noteworthy record was the observation of a pair of Eskimo curlews on Galveston Island, Texas, the first acceptable record of this species in several years. For twenty years only an occasional lone Eskimo curlew has been seen and the fact that these were probably a mated pair makes it a record of great significance. As long as one pair remains there is hope that the species may yet escape extinction.. . .