232 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



shrill notes of alarm. Other birds have learned to take warn- 

 ing when the willet cries, and leave a dangerous neighborhood. 

 The name tattler has been applied to it and to others of its 

 class. In spite of all their acuteness, willets often fall victims 

 to the huntsman, large numbers of them being shot every 

 season. 



The Greater Yellow-legs is another tattler much sought 

 in the marshes. It is chiefly a migrant through the country 

 at large, noisy and restless like the willet. 



The Upland Sand-piper, commonly called the Upland Plover, 

 is something of an anomaly, being fitted out with a wader's 

 bill and legs, yet avoiding the Avater. It is common from the 

 Rocky Mountains eastward, breeding on the prairies of the 

 Western States and on high grass-land in the East. It feeds 

 on beetles, grasshoppers, and other insects, and is a continual 

 benefit while it stays. Aughey states that in Nebraska in 

 locust years "the bulk of the food of this species consisted of 

 locusts." Rev. J. H. Langille relates that this sand-piper some- 

 times devours cantharides ; its flesh then becomes a violent 

 emetic. It holds a high place as a game-bird and is unsur- 

 passed for the table. 



THE curlews. 



The curlews are distinguished from the other snipes by 

 their size and long decurved bills. Of the three species found 

 in our limits, the Long-billed Curlew, or Sickle-bill, is the 

 largest and most abundant. Its habitat is the whole of North 

 America. It breeds throughout its range, but most abundantly 

 along the Atlantic coast and on the prairies of the Northwest. 

 These birds are generally found near the water, feeding upon 

 the various forms of animal life common to the shore. In 

 summer they devour many grasshoppers and kindred insects. 

 Of ten stomachs examined by Aughey, eight had from fifty-one 

 to seventy locusts, besides seeds and other insects ; the other 

 two had from fifty-three to sixty-one other insects and from 

 fifteen to twenty seeds. Wilson tells us that in the fall they 



