SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



251 



LONG-BILLED CURLEW 



Numenius americanus Bcchstchi 



A. O, U. Number 21.4 Sec Lu.o. I'late .!» 



Other Names. — Big Curlew; Hen Curlew; Old Hen 

 Curlew; Sickle-bill; Sickle-billed Curlew; Sabre-bill; 

 Smoker. 



General Description. — Length. 26 inches. Prevail- 

 ing color red, darker above than below. Its appearance 

 is similar to that of the Marbled Godwit. but it is 

 easily distinguishable from the latter by its longer and 

 curved bill, the upper section of which is longer than 

 the lower and slightly knobbed at the tip. Toes, webbed 

 at base. 



Color. — Crown, rufous-brown with blackish streaks; 

 back and shoulders, brownish-black varied with cin- 

 namon-brown, each feather having several indenta- 

 tions of this color; wing-coverts, with more rufous and 

 whitish ; secondaries and tail-feathers, pale brownish 

 barred with dusky; inner primaries, rufous-brown, 

 changing to dusky on outer ones ; entire under parts, 

 varying from yellowish-brown to rufous, usually deep- 



ening to chestnut under wings and fading to whitish on 

 throat and sides of head; breast, with dusky streaks 

 tending to arrowheads ; bill, dusky above, pale flesh- 

 color below ; legs, bluish-gray. Very constant in 

 plumage irrespective of age, sex. or season. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: A grass-lined depression in 

 the ground on open prairies. Eggs: 3 or 4, pale bufify 

 to grayish-buff, spotted with darker brown and lavender. 



Distribution. — North America; breeds from central 

 British Columl>ia, southern Saskatchewan, and Manitoba 

 to northeastern California, northern New Me.xico, and 

 northwestern Texas; winters from central California 

 and southern Arizona south to Guatemala, and on the 

 Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Florida, Louisi- 

 ana, and Texas; formerly a regular migrant north to 

 Massachusetts and rarely to Newfoundland, now a 

 straggler east of the Mississippi, north of Florida; 

 casual in the West Indies. 



From being an abundant species on the south 

 Atlantic coast a century ago, this interesting, 

 spectacular species, the Long-billed Curlew, is 

 now almost unknown in the eastern United 

 States. The only time I ever saw it in the East 

 was about 1886, in x\ugust, over the marshes of 

 Marshfield, Mass., when I saw a single wedge- 

 shaped flock of these great birds with absurdly 

 long down-curved bills. Audubon found them 

 coming to roost at night by thousands, on Nov- 

 ember 10, 1S31, on an island off the coast 01 

 South Carolina. Seeing that, in May, 1904, prob- 

 ably on the same island, I saw some ten thousand 

 Hudsonian Curlews come to roost at dusk, I 

 could not but wonder if he could have been mis- 

 taken in the species. At any rate, where it was 

 once well known it is now unknown. The spe- 

 cies is in real danger of extinction, and it is well 

 that the Federal Law now places them under 

 absolute protection. 



My personal experience with this great Curlev.- 

 has been chieflv in summer, in the nesting sea- 

 son, on the prairies of Saskatchewan. Evidently 

 it is gradually disappearing, for during extended 

 explorations in North Dakota, from May to 

 October, I failed to see a single one. \'arious 

 settlers told me that it had been common in " the 

 eighties '' and previously, but that it had since 

 become rare. It seems to prefer those prairie 

 regions where the soil has an alkaline tinge and 

 the sloughs are surrounded by the typical bare 

 alkaline flats. In such regions in Saskatchewan 



(. i..urlLS> ul S. A. Lottridge 



LONG-BILLED CURLEW 



This interesting species is now almost unknown in the eastern 

 United States 



