140 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



inches; extent, seventeen inches; the l)iU is more than 

 two and a half inches long, fluted lengthwise, of a brown 

 color and black towards the tip, where it is very smooth 

 while the bird is alive, but soon after it is killed becomes 

 dimpled like the end of a thimble; crown, black, divided 

 by an irregular line of j)ale brown; another and l)roader 

 one of the same tint passes over each eye; from the bill to 

 the eye there is a narrow dusky hue; neck and upper part 

 of breast, pale brown, variegated with touches of white 

 and dusky; chin, pale; back, deep velvety black, maibled 

 with waving lines of brown and broadly edged with huffy 

 white; wings, plain dusky; tail rounded, deep black, end- 

 ing in a bar of bright rusty brown, crossed with a narrow 

 waving line of black and tipped w ith white; belly, white; 

 sides barred with dusky; legs and feet, pale ashy green; 

 sometimes the whole thighs are ban-ed with dusky and 

 white. The female differs in being more obscure in her 

 colors, the white on the back being less pure and the 

 black not so deei>. 



The nests are mere depressions in the grass and bog. 

 The eggs are either three or four in number, of a clay or 

 brownish ashy color, with chocolate spots, more numer- 

 ous near the lai-ge end, and one and three-fifths by one 

 and two-fifths inches in size. They are placed with the 

 small end downward in the nest. 



Thebirdsbreed principally northward of New Jersey; itis 

 claimed by many ornithologists that a few remain in New 

 Jersey to breed. Some certainly do remain through the 

 sunmier, but they are in all probability either crippled or 

 improperly developed, thus being prevented from pur- 

 suing their flight further northward. The birds gener- 

 ally reach New Jersey between March -Jn and May Id; 

 their return flight occurs in September and October. 



These birds at times make a noise which in the distance 

 sounds like the bleating of a goat and then again like the 

 drumming of a partridge. During the nesting season 

 their cry is knk-kiik-kul-kuL-kiik. Thev ]ise from the 



