562 THE CURLEW. 



invariably saw flocks both at their breeding-places, and on their feeding-grounds, and flying, 

 they varied in numbers from a dozen to a hundred." Dr. Coues says: "While I would 

 not advise the reader to visit Fort Yuma, from any great distance, merely to study the habits 

 of this bird, yet, if he should by any unfortunate chance lind himself in this uncomfortable 

 place, he will have an excellent opportunity of doing so, for the Water Turkeys are very com- 

 mon there. Meanwhile let my experience answer the purpose. 



"We will walk abroad, in imagination, this fine September morning; we leave camp 

 as soon as it is light enough to see, for when the sun is two or three hours high, we shall 

 be glad enough to return to the shelter of the verandah. Just now it is pleasant and compara- 

 tively cool, for since midnight the thermometer has fallen below 90 ; it was 115 in the shade 

 yesterday afternoon, and will mark a hundred perhaps to-day at breakfast-time, when we 

 return with an Ibis or two. 



' ' The Colorado makes a bend around a bluff we stand upon. . . . The Ibises will very 

 likely be found in the swampy covert, into which we descend by a steep; well-worn path, and 

 are at once lost in the bushes. . . . Coveys of plumed quail are trooping along half-covered 

 ways, clinking in merry concert. Abert's finches rustle in every tangle ; in the green willow 

 clumps, orange-crowned warblers are disporting, and sipping dew from leafy, scroll -like cups." 



After procuring a few specimens, the heat drove the Doctor in, and he settles himself for a 

 shady rest, when, "A long line of white, dimly seen at first in the distance, issues out of the 

 gray -green woods. It is a troop of Wood Ibises, leaving their heated covert for what seems 

 the still less endurable glare of day, yet recognizable, for they have before enjoyed the cooler 

 current of the upper air. They come nearer, rising higher as they come, till they are directly 

 overhead in the bright blue sky, flapping heavily until they have cleared all obstacles. 

 Then mounting faster with strong regular beats of their broad wings ; now they sail in circles, 

 with widespread, motionless pinions, supported as if by magic. A score or more cross each 

 other's paths in interminable spirals, their snowy bodies tipped at the wing-points with jetty 

 black, clear cut against the sky ; they become specks in the air, and finally pass from view. 

 They are often joined by turkey buzzards in numbers." Andubon describes the feeding of 

 the Wood Ibis thus: " It feeds entirely on fish and aquatic reptiles, of which it destroys an 

 enormous quantity in fact, more than it eats ; for, if they have been killing fish for half an 

 hour, and gorged themselves, they suffer the rest to lie on the water untouched, to become 

 food for alligators, etc. 



"To procure its food, the Wood Ibis walks through shallow, muddy lakes or bayous in 

 numbers. As soon as they have discovered a place abounding in fish, they dance, as it were, 

 all through it, until the water becomes thick with the mud stirred from the bottom. The 

 fishes on rising to the surface are instantly struck by the beak, and on being deprived of life, 

 turn over and remain so. In the course of ten or fifteen minutes hundreds of fishes, frogs, 

 water-snakes, etc., cover the surface, and the birds greedily swallow them, until they are com- 

 pletely gorged, after which they walk to the nearest margins, place themselves in long rows, 

 with their breasts all turned towards the sun, in the manner of pelicans and vultures." 



VARI ETI ES. 



THE two birds which have been chosen to represent the large genus Numenius are the 

 Curlew, or Whaup, and the Whimbrel. 



The CURLEW is mostly found upon the sea-shore and open moorlands, and partly on 

 account of its wild, shy habits, and partly because its flesh is very delicate and well flavored, 

 is greatly pursued by sportsmen. These birds are most annoying to a gunner who does not 

 understand their ways, having a fashion of keeping just out of gun-range, rising from the 

 ground with a wild mournful cry which has the effect of alarming every other bird within 

 hearing, and flying off to a distance, where they alight only to play the same trick again. 

 Moreover, they are strong on the wing and well feathered, so that they require a sharp blow 

 to bring them down, and necessitate the use of large shot. When thus alarmed they generally 



