158 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



welcome. About the middle of April, the Peeb-weets cross our 

 southern boundary, and are soon dispersed in pairs all over the 

 country, where they are heard and seen by every brook side till 

 about the end of September, when they move off to spend the winter 

 in the Southern States. In the fall they become quite numerous, and 

 many may be seen along the lake shore at one time, but they are not 

 gregarious, each individual choosing its own time to rise and place to 

 alight. The female is rather larger and more heavily spotted than 

 the male. 



The species is common throughout the North- West, and has been 

 found by Dr. Bell in the Hudson's Bay regions, but it rarely, if ever, 

 visits Alaska. 



GENUS NUMENIUS BRISSON. 



NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRIS WILS. 



116. Long-billed Curlew (264) 



Bill, of extreme length and curvature, measuring from 5 to 8 or 9 inches; 

 total length, about 2 feet; wing, 1 foot or less; tail, about 4; tarsus, 2| to 2f. 

 Plumage very similar to that of the God wit, prevailing tone, rufous, of varying 

 intensity in different birds and in different parts of the same bird, usually more 

 intense under the wing than elsewhere; below, the jugulum streaked, and the 

 breast and sides with arrow-heads and bars of dusky; above, variegated with 

 black, especially on the crown, back and wings; tail, barred throughout with 

 black and rufous ; secondaries, rufous ; primaries, blackish and rufous ; no pure 

 white anywhere; bill, black, the under mandible flesh-colored for some dis- 

 tance; legs, dark. 



HAB. Temperate North America, migrating south to Guatemala and the 

 West Indies. Breeds in the south Atlantic States, and in the interior through 

 most of its North American range. 



Nest, on the ground, a slight hollow lined with grass. 



Eggs, three or four, clay color, blotched or spotted with umber-brown. 



The Long-billed Curlew is a bird of the prairie rather than the 

 coast, though it is often met with along the shores of the sea. It is 

 said to breed in suitable places from Carolina to Minnesota, but is 

 spoken of by Prof. Macoun as rare in the North-W^est. In Ontario, 

 it is occasionally seen along the shores of the lakes, but only as an 

 irregular visitor, and not in large numbers. Among the veteran 

 sportsmen near Hamilton, it is spoken of as one of the kinds which 

 have been scared away by the railroads. Whether or not the snorting 

 of the locomotive has anything to do with the disappearance of the 

 birds from their former haunts it is hard to say, but certain it is that 



