98 LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 



in length until the second season, when the bird receives its 

 perfect plumage. The stomach of this species is lined with an 

 extremely thick skin, feeling to the touch like the rough har- 

 dened palm of a sailor or blacksmith. The intestines are very 

 tender, measuring usually about three feet in length, and as 

 thick as a Swan's quill. On the front, under the skin, there are 

 two thick callosities, which border the upper side of the eye, 

 lying close to the skull. These are common, I believe, to most 

 of the Tringa and Scolopax trills, and are probably designed 

 to protect the skull from injury while the bird is probing and 

 searching in the sand and mud. 



Note. This species was observed by Lewis and Clarke as 



high up as the sources oi the Missouri. On the twenty-second 



June they found the females were sitting: the eggs, which are 



of a pale blue, with black specks, were laid upon the bare ground. 



Hist, of the Exped. vol. i, p. 279, Svo. 



