288 



KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 



small streams of fresh water and also on sand beaches, usually selecting 

 rocky places. It breeds nearly throughout its range, the eggs being buff 

 white or pale brown spotted with dark brown, mostly on the larger end. 



Genus NUMENIUS Brisson. 



Numenhis longirostris. 



NUHENIUS LONGIROSTRIS IVils. 

 Long-billed Curlew. Sickle-bill. 



Adult in sitjiuner: Upper parts marked with buff and black ; tail feathers alternately 

 banded with tawny buff and brown ; throat whitish ; rest of under parts pale reddisli brown, 

 becoming very light on the belly; breast narrowly striped with brown on the middle of the 

 feathers; bill very long. 



Adult in winter : General plumage tawny brown ; the back blackish, mottled with buff; 

 top of the head dark brown ; the feathers edged with tawny ; throat white ; under part pale 

 buff brown ; feathers on the lower throat and upper breast finely lined with dark brown ; bill 

 very long and curved downward ; bill black, becoming dull lilac brown on basal half of the 

 mandible. 



Length, 26; Wing, 10.50; Tarsus, 2.30 ; Bill very variable, measuring from 2.50 to 9. 



The immature of this species has the bill nearly straight but quite short, sometimes not ex- 

 ceeding two inches in length. 



Ranges from temperate North America south to Central America and the 



West Indies. It breeds in the Southern Atlantic States, but is now not 



common on the Atlantic coast, and is becoming less so every year. The 



eggs are described as olive gray in color, spotted with chocolate brown. 



