SCOLOPACID.E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — NUMENIUS. 313 



ered -vvitli water. Xoar Fort Lapwai tliis Innl breeds on hi;4li and dry jirairies several 

 miles from lake or river. It also breeds in Southern Arizona near Snli>liur Spring.?, 

 thirty miles west of Camp ].>owie. The eggs are said to vary greatly in shape, size, 

 ami coloration, even in the same nest, averaging 2.G(> by 1.71 inches. These birds 

 congregate in large flocks befoi-e migrating, and have all left by the 1st of August. 

 They feed chiefly on crickets. 



Lieutenant M'Cauley refers to this species as being generally distributed over 

 Kansas, the Indian Territory, and the Ked Eiver Eegiou of Texas. He found it 

 breeding in June, and very clamorous when the nests were approached. 



Mr. Ridgway also met with Curlews which he had no doubt were of this species, 

 during the spring and summer, along the Truckee River. In the neighborhood of 

 Great Salt Lake they were also more or less abundant during the summer, in all the 

 wet and grassy places. Several young just hatched were caught near the camp on 

 Antelope Island. Mr. J. A. Allen met with a single small colony of these birds in 

 the western portion of Kansas, near Fort Hays. This was late in May, and the birds 

 were evidently breeding. 



Mr. Salvin met with occasional specimens about the lagoons of Chiapam, on the 

 Pacific coast. It was usually in company with, but not so numerous as, the Numentus 

 HudsonicHs. He also obtained a single specimen at Duefias, in the interior. On the 

 Atlantic coast it is of comparatively rare occurrence. Mr. Boardman informs me 

 that occasional examples have been taken on the St. Croix River, as far wp as Calais ; 

 and, as it is not uncommon on Prince Edward's Island, it quite possibly may be met 

 with on the sea-coast of Nova Scotia. It is seen about Calais, but only near the 

 close of Slimmer, in the month of August. At the same season examples have been 

 taken on the Massachusetts coast ; and — so far as I am aware — at no other time. 



Mr. Boardman has been informed, on good arxthorit}^, that this bird breeds regu- 

 larly in considerable numbers on Prince Edward's Island ; and this fact accounts for 

 its occasional appearance on the New England coast. 



(iiraud includes the Long-billed Curlew among the birds of Long Island, where it 

 is occasionally found frequenting the muddy shores of the beaches and marshes, col- 

 lecting minute shellfish, which, with worms and various insects, constitute its food. 

 When moving about in flocks it is said to fly much after the manner of the Wild 

 Goose, its leader uttering a peculiarly hoarse dull note, which may be easily and 

 effectively imitated, as this bird is proverbial for answering the fowler's call when 

 at a greater distance from his decoy than any other shore-bird. When approaching, 

 and near to the decoys, it spreads its wings and sails slowly up, jsresenting a fair 

 mark. Its flesh is said to be rank, and the young partake of the same flavor ; but 

 this is probably true only of those which feed on the salt-marshes. The birds which 

 are found in the interior, feeding on grasshoppers and berries, are regarded as a 

 great delicacy. This Curlew is noted for its great sympathy with those of its 

 own kind, flocks being often kejit within gunshot by the cries of their wounded 

 companitiiis. 



Richardson supposed he had good reason for believing that this species frequents 

 the Saskatchewan Plains and the banks of the Columbia. There is said to be a speci- 

 men of this Curlew in the Museum of the Hudson's Bay Company ; but the locality 

 from which it was procured is not known. 



The Long-billed Curlew in its general appearance, and probably also in nearly all 

 its specific habits, bears a very close resemblance to the Common Curlew, iV. arquata, 

 of Europe ; and before Wilson pointed out the difference between them, the two were 

 confounded together. According to Wilson, this Cmdew appears in the salt-marshes 



VOL. I. — iO 



