LONG-BILLED CURLEW. II9 



the North only separate into soHtary pairs, and disperse them- 

 selves through the vast wilds of the interior of North America. 

 The Long-billed Curlews fly high and rapidly, generally 

 throwing themselves, when in company, into an angular wedge, 

 after the manner of Wild Geese, uttering, as they fly, and when 

 at all alarmed, a loud, short, whistling, and almost barking 

 note, sometimes, as in other species of the family, strongly re- 

 sembling the sibilation of the word kiirlew, and whence they 

 derive their characteristic name, which has been adopted into 

 so many of the European languages. By a dexterous imitation 

 of this note a whole flock may sometimes be enticed within gun- 

 shot ; and the cries of the wounded continue the sympathetic 

 enticement, while the fowler, repeating his shots, carries havoc 

 among the quailing throng. Their food consists principally 

 of insects, worms, and small crabs. The young and old also, 

 on their arrival from the North, where they feed on various 

 kinds of berries, still continue their fondness for this kind of 

 food, and now frequent the uplands and pastures in quest of 

 the fruit of the bramble, particularly dewberries, on which they 

 get so remarkably fat at times as to burst the skin in falling to 

 the ground, and are then superior in flavor to almost any other 

 game-bird of the season. In the market of Boston they are 

 seen as early as the Sth of August, having already raised their 

 brood and proceeded thus far towards their winter- quarters. 



The Sickle-bill is an abundant bird from the Pacific to the Mis- 

 sissippi ; but eastward of that river it is common only in the South- 

 ern States and around the Great Lakes; while in New England it 

 is quite rare, and occurs chiefly during the autumn migration. In 

 the West it ranges to the Saskatchewan valley, about latitude 55°; 

 but on the Atlantic it has not been taken north of Baie de Chaleur, 

 on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Our Eastern birds probably raise their broods in the region ly- 

 ing immediately south of Hudson Bay, and then journey eastward 

 through the valleys of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries until 

 reaching the sea, along which the birds proceed to their winter 

 quarters in the West Indies. 



Mr. George A. Boardman heard a report several years ago that 

 this species had been discovered breeding on Prince Edward's 

 Island; but this has not been confirmed by recent observations. 



