SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — NUMENIUS. 



315 



very imiformly distributed over the wliole surface, and consisting of rather small 

 blotches, longitudinal in direction, and of a burnt-umber tint. In others (S. I. JSTo. 

 5117) the ground-color is a pearly white, with a shading of cream, covered with large 

 blotches of an ashy lilac, these being overlain by smaller and deeper spots of burnt- 

 umber. These eggs vary from 2.70 to 2.90 inches in length, and from 1.78 to 1.92 

 inches in breadth. 



Numenius Hudsonicus. 



THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 



Scolopax borcalis, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, (354 (uec Forster, 1772). — WiLS. Ani. Orn. VII. 1813, 22, 



pi. 56, fig. 1. 

 Numenius horealis, Ord, ed. Wilson, 1825. — Brewer, eel. Wilson, 1840, 473 (excl. syn.). 

 Numenius Hudsonicus, Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 1790, 712 (based ou Esquimaux Curlew, Arct. Zool. IL 



461, no. 364, pi. 19, and Hudsonian Curlcio, Lath. Syn. Suppl. VII. 243). — Sw. & KiCH. 



F. B. A. II. 1831, 377. — XuTT. Man. II. 1834, 97. — Aud. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 283; V. 



1839, 589, pi. 237 ; Synop. 1839, 254 ; B. Am. VI. 1843, 42, pi. 356. — Cas.s. in Baird's B. N. 



Am. 1858, 744. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 550. — Coues, Key, 1872, 262 ; Check 



List, 1873, no. 442 ; 2d ed. 1882, no. 645 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 509. — Eidgw. Norn. N. Am. 



B. 1881, no. 559. 

 Numenius intermedius, Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 100. 

 Numenius rufiventris, ViG. Zool. Jour. IV. 1829, 356. 

 " Ninnenius brasiliensis, Maxim, et Burm." (Sclater). 



Hab. The whole of America, inchtdmg the West Indies ; breeds iu the high north, and 

 winters chiefly south of the United States. Greenland. 



Sp. Char. Adult : Crown dark sooty brown, divided longitudinally by a mesial stripe of hufl'; 

 a narrow dusky stripe on side of head, from bill to anterior angle of the eye, continued back beneath 

 the eye and along upper edge of auriculars, separated from tlie dusky of the crown by a wide, well- 



defined superciliary stripe of light buff. Rest of head and neck, and entire lower parts, light buff", 

 the chin, throat, and al)domen immaculate, other portions, including cheeks, entire neck, jugulum, 

 aud breast, marked with linear streaks of daik brown ; axillars pinkish buff or dilute cinnamon, 

 barred with dark brown. Upper parts spotted with dark sooty brown and light buff, the latter 

 prevailing on the wing-coVerts, the former on the back ; rump and upper tail-coverts similarly 

 spotted ; primaries dusky, the inner quills spotted with buff'. 



Wing, 9.00-10.25 ; culmen, 3.00-4.00 ; tarsus, 2.25-2.30 ; middle toe, 1. 35-1.40. 



This species, generally known to sportsmen as the Jack Curlew or Short-billed 

 Curlew, and to ornithologists as the Hudsonian Curlew, is very generally distributed 

 throughout Xorth America, being found both on the Pacific and the Atlantic coast. 



