204 HISTORY OF THE 



usually stand on one leg, or sit upon the ground. They are 

 very attentive to and solicitous for their young, hovering over 

 and vociferously scolding an intruder, and in various ways try 

 to lead him away. 



Their nests are placed on the ground in a slight depression, 

 sparingly lined with grasses, usually upon the high prairies, often 

 quite a distance from water. Eggs three or four. 2.85x1.85; 

 creamy white to olive drab, spotted and blotched with lilac and 

 varying shades of brown; in form, rather ovate, to pear shape. 



Numenius hudsonicus LATH. 



HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 

 PLATE XII. 



Migratory; rare. Arrive the last of April to first of May; 

 return in August. I have not met with them later, and think 

 they only stop to rest on their way south to the seacoast. 



B. 550. R. 559. C. 645. G. 262, 95. U. 265. 



HABITAT. Nearly the whole of America; breeds from north- 

 ern Dakota to the Arctic coast, and winters chiefly south of the 

 United States. 



SP. CHAR. "Adult: Crown dark sooty brown, divided longitudinally by a 

 mesial stripe of buff; a narrow dusky stripe on side of head from bill to ante- 

 rior angle of the eye, continued back beneath the eye and along upper edge of 

 auriculars, separated from the dusky of the crown by a wide, well-defined su- 

 perciliary stripe of light buff. Rest of head and neck and entire lower parts 

 light buff, the chin, throat and abdomen immaculate, other portions, including 

 cheeks, entire neck, jugulum and breast, marked with linear streaks of dark 

 brown; axillars pinkish buff or dilute cinnamon, barred with dark brown. Up- 

 per parts spotted with dark sooty brown and light buff, the latter prevailing on 

 the wing coverts, the former on the back; rump and upper tail coverts simi- 

 larly spotted; primaries dusky, the inner quills spotted with buff." 



Stretch of 

 Length. -wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 17.00 33.00 9.50 3.75 2.25 3.50 



Female... 18.50 35.00 10.00 4.50 2.30 4.00 



Iris brown; bill olive black, under mandible pale reddish at 

 base; legs and feet dark greenish lead color; claws black. 



This widely distributed species does not appear to be very 

 abundant anywhere. I have occasionally met with small flocks 

 of these birds in nearly every locality where I have collected; 

 and I have in the "Goss Ornithological Collection" a male shot 



