436 The Water-fowl Family 



from southern Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, south to Cuba, 

 Jamaica, and Mexico to Guatemala. Bred formerly as far east 

 as Ohio, and on the Atlantic Coast, north to southern New 

 Jersey, wintering in North Carolina, and was a common mi- 

 grant north, at least, to Massachusetts ; now a straggler in 

 North America east of the Mississippi and north of Florida. 

 Has been recorded from Newfoundland, Labrador, Alaska, and 

 southwestern British Columbia. 



The long-billed curlew is a bird of the past, 

 now threatened with extinction. Formerly com- 

 mon along the Atlantic Coast, particularly in the 

 Southern states, the flocks have been utterly 

 destroyed, so that at the present time the old 

 haunts of the East hardly see this bird as a strag- 

 gler. Twenty years ago the sicklebill, as this 

 species is commonly called, was abundant in the 

 late fall off Virginia and North Carolina; now it 

 is practically unknown. In Florida, where great 

 numbers wintered, it is rare. When the long- 

 billed curlew frequented the favorite resorts of 

 the South in thousands, the extensive marshes 

 near the coast were the feeding-grounds, the birds 

 flying to the sandy islands offshore to roost and 

 spend the night. At low tide the curlew resorted 

 to the bars exposed by the falling water, having 

 special spots they favored. In a number of in- 

 stances these places still bear their names, although 

 they have not seen a flock of sicklebill in years. 

 Near Cobb's Island, Virginia, there is a high-water 

 flat, a famous old-time spot for these birds. It 



