126 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



bird throughout North America, breeding everywhere. It winters in 

 the Southern States and beyond. Every lazy fisherman and idle 

 school boy, who has whiled away many a balmy and hot summer day 

 along the banks of streams, knows this bird well by the bobbing and 

 tilting movements of its body and tail, and its peculiar note, peet-weet^ 

 peet-weet^ as it flies up and down and across the streams. It is known 

 by many a curious nickname : '* Teeter-tail," " Tip-up," " Sandlark," 

 " Peet-weet " and others which generally refer to some eccentricity of 

 the bird. 



The eggs are creamy, bufif or clay color, blotched, spotted and 

 dotted with blackish-brown; usually four in number, and measure 

 about 1.34 by .92. The nest of this Sandpiper is made on the ground, 

 generally in the shelter of high weeds or grass on a sandy island or 

 border of a cultivated meadow, near water and often at a considerable 

 distance from any water. It is simply a depression in the soil, some- 

 times constructed with hay and moss. The eggs like all those of 

 the waders lay in the nests with the small ends together. 



264. Numenius longirostrls Wils. [558.] 



Liong-billed CnrleTir' 



Hab. Temperate North America, migrates south to Guatemala and the West Indies. 



The large Sickle-bill is of irregular distribution in temperate 

 North America, breeding nearly throughout its range. It is migratory 

 northward and is resident from the Carolinas south to Mexico. It 

 nests very abundantly on the South Atlantic coast, and on the prairies 

 of the interior and the Northwest. Unlike others of its genius it is 

 not a bird of high latitude. The eggs of the Long-billed Curlew are 

 three or four in number ; and almost exactly resemble those of the 

 Willet, but are larger, measuring from 2.45 to 2.80 in length by 

 1.80 to 1.90 in breadth; they are, however, more of a pyriform 

 shape than the eggs of the Willet. In common with other waders 

 the eggs are deposited on the ground in a slight hollow lined with a 

 few grasses. This Curlew may be known from all others by its large 

 size and very long, curved bill, measuring from four to six or eight 

 inches. It may sometimes breed at St. Mary's Reservoir, in Mercer 

 county, and other localities of Northwestern Ohio, as it is known to 

 breed in Northern Illinois. 



265. Numenius hudsonicus Lath. [559.] 



Hudsonian Curle\ir. 



Hab. North and South America and West Indies. Breeds in the far north; winters chiefly south of 

 the United States. 



The American Whimbrel, Short-billed, or Jack Curlew, as this bird 



