288 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



by a narrow stripe of brownish- white ; over each eye extends a 

 broad line of pale drab ; iris dark-colored ; hind part of the neck 

 streaked with dark brown ; fore-part and whole breast very pale 

 brown; upper part of the body pale drab, centered and barred 

 with dark brown, and edged with spots of white on the exterior 

 vanes; three primaries black, with white shafts; rump and tail- 

 coverts barred with dark brown; belly white; vent the same, 

 marked with zigzag lines of brown on a dark cream ground; legs 

 and naked thighs a pale lead-color." 



This bird, like most others of our sea-fowl, is migratory, arriving 

 in the Middle States from the South early in the spring, and re- 

 maining a short time, feeding on the mud-flats and salt marshes, 

 in company with various others of the feathered race. After this 

 they take up their line of march for the Far North, where they 

 spend the summer in breeding and rearing their young. The 

 short-billed curlews travel in large bodies, and keep up a constant 

 whistling during their journeys. It is possible that some few re- 

 main the whole summer through in the marshes about Cape May, 

 for the purposes of incubation: such, indeed, is the opinion of 

 those employed in shooting these birds for the markets. We have 

 often met with them in the neighborhood of Cape May early in 

 July. 



During the breeding season, curlews collect in immense numbers 

 on the Labrador coast, where they remain till the months of 

 August and September, and then leave in large companies for the 

 South. During these months, and until the commencement of cold 

 weather, curlews are very numerous on the coast of New Jersey 

 and Long Island, frequenting the salt marshes and flats, where 

 they find abundance of food, such as marine worms, shell-fish, and 

 various species of aquatic insects, all of which they partake of 

 greedily. On these mud-flats, where numberless varieties of sea- 

 birds collect, are great quantities of a particular kind of shell or 

 craw-fish, vulgarly called fiddlers, upon which the larger fowls 

 prey and soon become fat. This dainty food, however, though 

 very nutritious and excellent, does not improve the flavor of the 



