68o THE LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 



ne\er-ciiding liabit of tcciering: "The fore part of the body is lowered a 

 Httle, the head drawn in. the legs slightly bent, while- the hinder jiarts and tail 

 are alternately hoisted with a peculiar jerk, and ilrawn dmvn again with the 

 regularity of clock work." This strange niotit)n has won for the bird the 

 name Tip-up and Teeter-tail, and gi\'es it an air of mock soleninit}' which is 

 only heightened 1)\- the (Juaker drab adornment of the upperparts and the 

 apparently serious \iew of life wdiich the owner takes. Absurd as the action 

 is in adults, it tests the risibles still more sorely when a todilling youngster, 

 bristling with pin-feathers, discovers the same uncontrollable ambition in his 

 rear parts, and says. 1 luw-do-you-do backward, with imperturbable grayity. 



.\rriying in its accustomed haunts about the middle of April, the Spotted 

 Sandpiper itumediatelx' makes its presence known by notes wdiich altho of 

 trifling import, are particularly sweet and welcome. I'rct-ivcct, or weet, zvect, 

 n'cct, t^'cct, says the bird on all ])ossible occasicms. and a boat-ride on lake or 

 riyer loses half its charm without the frequent interruption of this wayside 

 greeting. 



The Peet-weet's nest is usually a little removed from the water's edge, 

 ]>laced a few rods back among the stunted willows and rank grasses of the 

 u]iper sand stratum of the beach, or else sunk somewhere njion a grass-grown 

 bank. The birds are not always discreet in the matter of concealment, antl 

 will sometimes steal to the nest or yisit it ojienly. while search is being con- 

 tlucted in the immediate neighborhood. The eggs, normally foin- in number, 

 are immense for the size of the bird, and, as a couse(|uence, the young are so 

 well found at birth that they are able to scam])er ott with never a thought 

 for the unusnalh- substantial cushion of lea\es and dried grasses which has 

 haibored them in embrxo. 



No. 277. 



LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 



A. O. X'. Xo. 264. Niimeniiis americanus r>echstein. 



Synonyms. — SiCKLK-r.ii.i.. 11 Kn Crui.KW. 



Description. — .-Uiiilt: deneral color ochraceous-lnifil" to pale cinnamon- 

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

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

 bars on back and tertials, and so variously mottled thruont, only the outer webs of 

 outer primaries being of solid color, — dusky; below, shar])!y streaked on breast 

 and sides, sometimes sparing!}- barred with blackish, the ground color reaching 

 its greatest purity and intensity on axillars ; bill vcrv long, considerably decurved 

 toward tip ; the culnien brownish dusky, the lower mandible yellow at base and 



