398 NVMENIUS LONG1XOSTR1S. 



NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRIS. 



Long-billed Curlew. 

 Numenius lonyirostris WILS., Am. Orn., VIII; 1814, 24. 



DKSCRI1TION. 



SP. CH. Form, robust. Size, large. Bill, greatly elongated, about four times as long as hea<l. Tongue, very short, 

 only 1'20 long, triangular in form with the tip pointed. 



COLOR. Adult. Above, dark-brown, lined, spotted, and banded, excepting on outer webs of primaries, with yellow- 

 ish-red. Beneath, yellowish-red, darkest under wings, streaked on neck and breast and banded on sides and flanks, with 

 dark-brown. 



Young. Similar to the adult, but paler throughout. Iris and feet, brown, and bill, brown, lighter on basal third of 

 lower mandible, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Known from all others by the large size , very long, curved bill, and colors as described. Distributed, in summer, 

 throughout the West; wintering from the Carolinas, southward. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length , 24' 15; stretch , 39'UO; wing, 1(V50; tail , 4'00; 

 bill, 7-50; tarsus, 3'50. Longest specimen, 26'00; greatest extent of wing, 40'00; longest wing, 11 '00; tail, 4 50; bill, 9'00; 

 tarsus, 4'00. Shortest specimen, 22-25; smallest extent of wing, 38'00 ; shortest wing, 10-00; tail, 3'50; bill,5-65; tarsus, 3'00. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Eygs, placed on the ground in a depression of the soil on a little grass. They are from two to four in numl>er, rath- 

 er oval in shape, varying from ashy-yellow to greenish in color, spotted and blotched irregularly wjth brown and umber of 

 varying shades, with the usual shell markings of lilac. Dimensions from 1 '80 x 2*40 to I'90x2'88. 



HABITS. 



I well remember when I first caught sight of a living Long-billed Curlew. I was 

 standing on a sandy shore, just north of Cape Ann, when a single individual flew slowly 

 past, along the beach over the water, but just out of gun-shot. As soon as it perceived me, 

 it uttered one of those almost startling cries, for which these birds are noticeable, and 

 changed its course further out to sea, then continued its swift flight southward. After this, 

 on other occasions, I saw several, but was always obliged to content myself with the same 

 distant view, and it was not until I first went to Florida, that I made a closer acquaintance 

 with these fine birds. One day, some thirteen or fourteen years ago, I was walking along 

 a lonely stretch of shore, which lies between the head of Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon. 

 I had reached this point which was then quite distant from civilization, as there were but 

 two houses^ or rather shanties, between New Smyrna, a small place consisting of two or 

 three dwellings, situated twenty-five miles to the northward, and the light-house at Cape 

 Canaveral, about as far to the southward, while below this point, there was not a single 

 residence on that side of the lagoons and bays, for a hundred miles. Thus it may be un- 

 derstood, that the place of which I am speaking, was, without exaggeration, lonely. I had 

 been some time in reaching this point, and in order to do so, had encountered not a .few 

 difficulties, for travelling in Florida then, could not be accomplished with as much ease as 

 at present. Although conscious that I was in a wilderness, I did not at first fully under- 

 stand how remote this particular place was from settlements, and how seldom it was visited 

 by man, until coming suddenly to a small creek, the banks of which were high, I saw a 

 very large Long-billed Curlew, not a dozen yards away, standing on a sand bar, with his 

 head drawn in, apparently asleep. When I approached, the bird merely looked up, and it 

 was not until I walked within, perhaps, twenty feet of him, that he concluded to fly, which 



