LONG-BILLED CURLEW 441 



seeing about 500 birds of this species at Los Banos, Merced County, 

 on January 3, 1912, but does not state whether they were all in one 

 flock ; this is the only record known to the writers of large numbers 

 being seen at one locality in this state during recent years. On August 

 5, 1910, near Cedarville, Modoc County, W. P. Taylor (MS) noted 

 about twenty of these birds scattered about over the fields which 

 were covered in part with shallow water. The birds flushed at very 

 long range, flying slowly, and continually uttered their insistent call- 

 notes. 



Newberry (1857, p. 99) relates of this curlew that in his march 

 through the Sacramento Valley and northward he did not meet with 

 it until lie had crossed the main Sierras and had come down into the 

 plains bordering the Pit River above the upper canon. He says: 

 "Here [tlie first week of August, 1855] we found them in immense 

 numbers, and they formed a valuable addition to our bill of fare. This 

 prairie is entirely covered with water during the wet season, as is 

 proven by the myriads of aquatic shells . . . scattered over the ground 

 in the grass : and as it does not dry up so completely as the other 

 valleys, the curlews apparently pass the summer there." 



On the marsh or tide flats the Long-billed Curlew as it probes for 

 food, mingles freely with other shore birds of large and small size. 

 The long bill and legs enable it to work for its food in places covered 

 by several inches of water and give it a larger feeding area along the 

 shore than is available to many of the smaller waders. Birds observed 

 by the authors September 26, 1914, on the Alameda County shores 

 of San Francisco Bay were mingling with Marbled Godwits, Western 

 Willets, and Long-billed Dowitchers. The Long-bills stood viewing 

 us with one eye, and with their bodies always turned sideways, as 

 though keeping in position to fly away should danger threaten. On 

 this date a mixed flock of Grodwits, Willets and Long-bills aggregating 

 forty individuals came flying along the beach. One of the curlews 

 being shot the flock swung about and returned, repeating this 

 maneuver twice and keeping up a deafening chorus of calls. The 

 wounded bird attracted the attention of several of the curlews which 

 flew down and hovered close above it. This suggests how pot-hunters 

 may have readily decimated the flocks of earlier days. The flight of 

 the Long-bill is easy and graceful, with slow regular wing-beats. 



Heermann who observed this species here during the middle of 

 the last century says (1859, p. 66) : 



These birds arrive in flocks in California [in the central valleys] during 

 September, resorting to the fields and open prairies, where they find an 

 abundant supply of insects. Wild in their nature, always on the alert, and 

 the prairie offering no undulations behind which the hunter can approach 

 unseen, they are one of the most difficult game birds to secure. Their first 



