ZOOLOGY. 99 



NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRIS. 

 Curlew. 



The curlew is quite abundant in the vicinity of San Francisco and throughout the Sacramento 

 valley during the autumn and winter. In the summer and before the commencement of the 

 rainy season comparatively few of them are found there. On our march through the Sacra- 

 mento valley and northward we did not meet with it until we came down into the plains 

 bordering Pit river above the upper caiion ; here 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 (Planorbis, Physa, &c.) 

 scattered over the ground in the grass ; and as it does not dry up so completely as the other 

 vallies, the curlews apparently pass the summer there. Around the Klamath lakes and others 

 of that group they were abundant in August, and we found them associated with the geese and 

 other water birds which were congregated in countless numbers on the lowlands bordering the 

 Columbia in October. 



HIMANTOPUS NIGRICOLLIS. 



The Black-necked Stilt. 



We found this bird in large numbers on the shores of Rhett lake, on the line between Cali- 

 fornia and Oregon. This lake, one of a group of which upper Klamath lake is the largest, is 

 exceedingly shallow, and nearly half its surface is occupied by patches of " tule" (bull-rush,) 

 which has given it the name by which it is sometimes called "Tule lake." These wide surfaces 

 of shoal water and low islands, densely covered with rushes, afford most convenient retreats for 

 a large number of swimming and wading birds, which nest and pass the summer there. Ducks, 

 geese, herons, plovers, and sandpipers were very numerous, but the most conspicuous of all were 

 the stilts, both for their numbers and their vociferous cries. When alarmed by the approach of 

 our party and the firing of guns, they flew about in the greatest confusion, their long legs trail- 

 ing behind them, and keeping up a loud and incessant scolding. I obtained a fine pair of these 

 birds, male and female, which with several other desirable specimens procured at that time were 

 subsequently lost. 



The Stilt is found as far north as the Columbia, and is not uncommon in the valleys of 

 California. 



RECURVIROSTRA OCCIDENTALIS. 



The Western Avoset. 



Common on the marshes about the principal bays and water courses of California during fall 

 and winter. It is then brought into the San Francisco market in considerable numbers and 

 sold as an article of food. How great are its excellencies in this line I did not learn. 



In the spring it migrates to the northward, nesting almost exclusively above the Columbia. 



This species resembles in appearance, as well as in habits and cry, the R. Americana of the 

 Atlantic coast, and still more than that species is like the avoset of Europe. 



