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the margins of each feather ; wings and rump somewhat lighter ; 

 upper tail coverts and tail barred with dark brown and olivaceous 

 gray ; primaries and their coverts blackish-brown, all with trans- 

 verse yellowish-gray markings on the inner web; the shaft of the 

 first quill white — of the rest brown ; breast and abdomen grayish- 

 white, the sides tinged with cream-color, and barred with grayish 

 brown ; bill rather more than twice the length of the head, of a 

 brownish-black color — at the base of the lower mandible, flesh-col- 

 ored. Length eighteen inches, wing nine and a half. 



This bird arrives on Long Island in the month of May. It fre- 

 quents the marshes and muddy flats, feeding on worms and minute 

 shell-fish. With us, it is not so abundant as the long-billed species, 

 with which it sometimes associates. Early in June it moves on to 

 the North, where it passes the season of re-production ; in the latter 

 part of August, while journeying southward, it again makes its 

 appearance on the salt marshes ; and sometimes it frequents the 

 uplands, where it procures berries and insects of various kinds, on 

 which it gets very fat — though in general its flesh is not well fla- 

 vored. 



The flight of the Hudsonian Curlew is easy and steady ; it 

 obeys the fowler's whistle, and presents an excellent mark. This 

 bird is remarkable for sympathizing with its wounded companions 

 —a trait of character so proverbial in the Long-billed Curlew. 



Occasionally stragglers are observed to linger behind until the 

 early part of November ; but in general, all have left for winter 

 quarters by the middle of October. The name generally given to 

 it by our gunners, is " Short-billed " or " Jack Curlew." 

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