336 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



of a man to all their congeners scattered over a large area. 

 The result of their signal of danger is, very often, the 

 discomfiture of the fowler, and the choleric expulsion of 

 words that are not supposed to be used by angels. If they 

 are not shot at much, they become quite tame, and some- 

 times follow a plowman so closely, in their eagerness to 

 feast on the worms in the newly-turned furrow, that he 

 can kill some with his whip. If a person is concealed 

 in shrubbery, or behind driftwood, he may be able 

 to bring them within reach by imitating their wailing 

 notes, by waving a black handkerchief from the top 

 of a stick, or by using decoys on the sand bars which 

 they frequent. Wing-tipped birds make capital " stools," 

 as they cry loudly, flutter their wings, and make such a 

 racket that their kindred descend to learn what ails them, 

 and keep sweeping round and round them until several 

 are shot. When the birds fly in herds from one point to 

 another, a man may be able to bag several, if he is under 

 cover on their line of flight, but if they detect him by the 

 color of his clothes or any want of carefulness on his 

 part, he will only have his pains for his labor. The 

 usual charge for curlews is four and a half drachms 

 of powder and one and a quarter ounces of No. 7 

 shot; but if they are mingled with other birds, some 

 sportsmen prefer No. 9, as that is sufficiently effective 

 for all classes. The most marked member of this 

 genus is the sickle-bill, or long-billed curlew (Nti- 

 metiius longirostris), which has a bill ranging from 

 five to nine inches in length. Its hue is rufous, with 

 blackish markings. It is very abundant, especially 

 in the Far West. The jack curlew (iY. Jmdsonicus) is 

 smaller than the one mentioned, somewhat paler, and its 

 bill is only three or four inches long. It is quite common. 

 The dough-bird, or Esquimaux curlew {N. borealis), is 

 smaller than the preceding, and like it in color, but its 

 bill is much shorter, being less than tliree inches. This 



