The bluebird, forsaken, yet true to liis home, 

 Still lingers and looks for a milder tomorrow, 



Till, forced by the horrors of winter to roam. 

 He sings his adieu in a lone note of sorrow. 



While spring's lo\ ely season, serene, dewy, warm. 



The green face of earth and the pure blue of hea\en. 

 Or love's native music have influence to charm. 



Or sympathy's glow to our feelings is given, 

 Still dear to each bosom the bluebird shall be ; 



His voice, like the thrillings of hope, is a treasure : 

 I'or, through bleakest storms if a calm he but see. 



He comes to remind us of sunshine and ])leasure ! 



The Long-Billed Curlew {Numoiius amerionius) 



By Henry Oldys 



Range : Breeds from central British Coluiubia, southern Saskatchewan, and 

 Manitoba to northeastern California, northern New Mexico, and northwestern 

 Texas; winters from central California and southern Arizona south to Guate- 

 mala, and on Atlantic coast from .South Carolina to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. 



Few in our times ha\e known this big curlew in the Atlantic states, although 

 a century or less ago flocks of considerable size were not uncommon. Many of 

 us, however, have made the acquaintance of the bird in the Western states, where 

 it breeds or did breed, from Canada to Texas. Tho.se best acquainted with the 

 recent status of the bird see little hope for it. The natural extension of agri- 

 culture has greatly limited its breeding grounds, and for this there is no remedy. 

 Nor should one be desired, since in the mind of every right thinking citizen farms 

 are more important than breeding grounds for curlew. Nevertheless, the curlew 

 is not an over-shy bird, and, if accorded reasonable treatment, and left undis- 

 turbed during the breeding season, would long survive in its old haunts. Pro- 

 tected till 1918 under the Federal law, it needs in addition only the protection 

 of public sentiment to live on indefinitely. Its flesh is rather tough and dry, even 

 on the prairie where it feeds much upon insects and berries, while in its seaside 

 resorts, where it subsists on marine life, its meat is too strong to be palatable. As 

 the birds eat many insects and crawfish, we may plead its utility as an additional 

 argument in its favor, and beg s[)ortsmen and others who may be saitl to hold the 

 life of the species in their hands to abstain from killing curlews. Continued 

 shooting means speedy extinction. 



Synonym. — Sickle-bill. 



Description. — Adult: (General color ochraceous-buff to pale cinnamon- 

 rufous ; upper parts varied with dusky, in broad streaks on crown, in narrow 

 streaks on sides of head and neck, in heavy, central, "herring-bone," connected bars 



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