170 SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



264. Numenius longirostris Wils. Long - billed Curlew ; 

 Sickle-bill. Ad. — Head aud neck streaked, and back barred with buft'y 

 and black ; wing-coverts, inner webs of primaries, secondaries, and tail vary- 

 ing from bufty to pale rufous, barred or mottled with blackish; under parts 

 ochraceous-buff, breast more or less streaked and sides sometimes barred 

 with black ; axillars rufous, generally unbarred. L., 24-00 ; W., 10-50 ; Tar., 

 3-10; B., 6-00. 



Bange. — United States, breeding in the interior as far north as Manitoba 

 and on the Atlantic coast to North Carolina; casual northward to New Eng- 

 land ; winters from Florida and Texas southward to the West Indies. 



Washington, rare and irregular T. V. Long Island, casual from July to 

 Sept. Sing Sing, A. V. 



Eggs., three to four, olive clay-color or brownish ashy, spotted or blotched 

 with chocolate, 2-58 x 1-85. 



" These birds, as a rule, inhabit the muddy shores aud moist grassy 

 flats and plains, but often frequent and breed upon the uplands re- 

 mote from water. Their food consists of worms, crickets, beetles, 

 grasshoppers, small snails, crabs, and crawfish ; the latter they reach 

 for with their long bills and pull them out of their holes ; and I have 

 seen them probe for and unearth the larvae of the beetles and other 

 forms of life that in the spring come to or near the surface prepara- 

 tory to transformation. While feeding they move about with an easy 

 carriage. 



" Their flight is not rapid but well sustained, with regular strokes 

 of the wings, and when going a distance usually high and in a trian- 

 gular form, uttering now and then their loud, prolonged whistling 

 note, so often heard during the breeding season ; before alighting, sud- 

 denly drop nearly to the ground, then gather, and with a rising sweep 

 gracefully alight " (Goss). 

 — S65. Numenius hudsonicus Latl. Hudsonian Curlew; Jack 

 Curlew. ^(^.— Upper parts grayish brown, the sides of the feathers with 

 whitish spots ; rump and tail barred with butty and blackish ; inner web of 

 outer primaries and both webs of inner ones barred with butty or whitish and 

 black; under parts butty or whitish, the neck and breast streaked and the 

 sides and under wing-coverts barred with black. L., 17-00 ; W., 9-50 ; Tar., 

 2-20; B., 3-75. 



^(i„,_^^._Breeds in the arctic regions and winters from the Gulf States to 



Patagonia. 



Long Island, T. V., rare from May 20 to 30 ; common from July to Oct. 1. 



Eggs, three to four, pale olive, spotted with dull brown, 2-27 x 1-57 

 (Ridgw.). 



This is a much commoner bird on our coasts than the preceding, 

 which it resembles in habits but not in notes. 



266. Numenius borealis (ForstX Eskimo Curlew; Fute ; 

 DouGU-BiRD. ^(^.— Upper parts black, margined and tipped with buft'y or 



