214 l>lhMENn'S LONGJUOSTP.IS. 



NUMENIUS liONGIROSTRIS. 

 Long-billed Curlew. 



WwHcnius /iini/iro.'itris Wii.s., Ami. ()rn.,VllI; 1814,24. 



DKSCKll'TICN. 



Sp. Cm. Fi.rm, robust. Size, large. Hill, i^reatly elongate.l, :il;i.>ut fuur ti:ues if^l mg as hea.l. Tongue, very shorty 

 only 1'20 l<m>i, tiianguhii- in f;jrm with t'le tip p.iijtol. 



Ccii.op Adult. Ab.ive, dai-k-l)iown, lined, spottfil, anl bind^-J, excepting on (inter welis of jininai-ies. with ycUow- 

 is'i red. Beneath, yellowish-re. 1, darkest under wing-, stre:iked on neck and breast tind handed un sides and flanks, with 

 dark-hr.iwn. 



Yduni/. Similar to the adult, but \K\\er thr.)ughiiut. Iri- and leot. brown, and bill, lirown, lighter on basal third of 

 t-iwer mandible, in all slagi s. 



OBSERVATIOiNS. 



Kn.iwn from all others by the large size, rery long, curved bill, and colors a.s described. Distributed, in summer, 

 tlinmgiiout the West; wintering from the Canjllnas, southward. 



DLMKNSIONS. 

 Average mcasureineitts of specimens from Kastern North America. Length , 24' 15; stretch , 39-00; wing, lO'SO; tail , 4'00; 

 bill, T 50; tarsus, SoO. Longest specimen, 20-00; greatest extent of wing, lO'OO; longast wing, ll'OO; tail, 4 50; bill, 9-00; 

 tarsus, 400. Sliortest specimen, 2225; smallest extent of wing, oS-flO; shortest wing, lO-CO; tail, 3-511; bill, 5-65; tarsus, S'OO. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGOS. 

 Eyij^, place:l on the ground in a dppressi(m of the soil on a little grass. They are from two to four in numlier, rath- 

 er oval in sliape, vai-ying from a.sjy-yellow to greenish in color, spotted and blotched irregularly with hrowu and uiuherof 

 varying shades, with the usual shell markings of lilac. Dimensions from r80x2'40 to 1 90x2-88. 



HABITS. 

 I well lemcmher wlieu I first caught sight of a living Long-billed Curlew. I was 

 st.iiiding (111 a .sandy shore, jast north of Cape Ann, when a single individual flew slowly 

 pa.si, along the beacli over the water, but just out of gun-shot. As soon as it perceived me, 

 it uttered one of those almost startling cries, for which these birds are noticeable, and 

 chiinged its course further out to sea, then continued its swift flight southwtird. After this, 

 on other occasions, I sttw several, but was always obliged to content myself with the same 

 distant view, and it was not until I first went to Florida, that I made a closer acciuaintance 

 with these fine birds. One day, some thirteen or fourteen years ago, [ was walking along 

 a lonely stretch of shon^, which lies between the head of Inditin River and Mosquito Lagoon. 

 I had reached this point which was then quite distant from civilization, as there were but 

 two houses, or rather shanties, between New Smyrna, a small place consisting of two or 

 three dwellings, situated twenty-five miles to the northward, and the light-house at Cape , 

 Canaveral, tibout as far to the south wtird, while below this point, there w:is not a single 

 residence on that side of the lagoons and btiys, for a hundred miles. Thus it may be un- 

 derstood, that the phice of which I tiiu speaking, was, without exaggeration, lonely. I had 

 been some time in reaching tliis point, and in order to do so, had encountered not ii few 

 difiiculties, for trtivelling in Florida then, could not be accomplished with as much ease iis 

 at present. Although consci(His that I was in a wihlerness, I did not at first i'uUy under- 

 stand how rcMioIe this particular place was from settlements, and liow sehhuii it was visited 

 by man, until couiiug suddoidy to a small creek, the banks of which were high, I saw a 

 very hirge Long-billed Curlew, not a dozen yards away, standing on a sand bar, with his 

 head drtiwn in, a.jiparently asleep. When I approached, the bird merely looked up, tind it 

 was uot uulil I Widked within, perhaps, twenty feet of him, that he coucladed to fly, whicb 



