SCOLOPACID.E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — PELIDNA. 



247 



Young: Buck and scupularH dusky black, the feathers bonleretl latertilly with dull light ochra- 

 cLMiUH, with white tenuiiialiy ; lesser and middle win^j-coverts bordered with dull bull"; upi)er 

 tail-coverts white, unspotted. Lores brownish ; indistinct superciliary stripe and lower jiarls 

 white, the juj,'uluni and sides of the breast washed with buff and narrowly streaked with 



m 



dusky. " Bill dark olive-green, darker toward point ; iris hazel ; feet light olive, claws dusky " 



(AlDUBON). 



Total length, about 8.50 to 9.(H) inches; wing, -1.80-5.20; culmen, 1.38-1.60; tarsus, 1.10- 

 l.L>() ; middh' toe, .70. 



In the winter plumage this species is very similar t(j /'. alphm, but may be immediately distin- 

 guished by the white upi)er tail-coverts. American sjiecimens are quite identical with European. 



The Curlew Siiiidpipcr i.s of rare oecurrence in North America, and has been actu- 

 ally known to have been taken in Imt few localities and in only a small number of 

 instanees. We can therefort' only regard it as a straggler. It is one of the rarest of 

 the Sandpipers which visit us. It has been taken in several instances near New 

 Vork and on Long Island. Three specimens were procured by !Mr. George A. Board- 

 man, of St. Steithen. from near St. Andrews, on the St. Croix Kiver. <Jne of these 

 was in the vernal plumage, and two were in the autumnal. So far as I am aware, 

 oidy two or three instances are on record of its occurrence in New England, — one 

 given by Mr. Maynard, near Ipswich, Mass., one at East Boston, and one near Port- 

 land, -Me. 



It is mentioned by Giraud, in his ''Birds of Long Island," as of infrequent occur- 

 rence witiiin the limits of the Tinted States, but as having been more frequently 

 observed in the neighborhood of New Vork than on any other portion of our sea- 

 coast. But even he oidy knew of two or three having been se«'n in Fulton Market, 

 New York; and Mr. J. (L Bell, the taxidermist, in the course of many years, lias 

 jmrchased seven or eight. Three or four others are known to have been taken on the 

 shores of Long Island. 



Autlubon states that in the course of his extensive rambles along our coasts he 

 saw only three of this species, which he regards as one of the rarest of its genus. 

 One of Mr. Audubon's specimens was shot on Long Island, near Sandy Hook ; the 

 oilier two at Great Egg Harbor, in New Jersey, in the spring of 1829. No other 

 birds were near, and he a])proachcd them without difficulty. They were waging 

 along the shores up to the knees, picking up floating garbage and sand-worms, 

 ill their stomachs were fragments of miinite shells, slender red-worms, and bits of 

 marine plants. He adds that he has seen several sp. -:>imens in New York collections, 

 two in Boston, and that Dr. Bachnian had also two of this species. 



In the ejustern hemisjdiere this bird appears to be very widely diffu.sed, occurring in 

 Europe, Africa, and Asia at different seasons of the year, and according to its luigra- 



