140 BIRDS 



lining it sparingly with dry bits of grass and stems. Four 

 pointed eggs are laid. They have a huffy or clay back- 

 ground, and are daintily and heavily marked with black and 

 umber. The little spotted sandpiper is the same size as our 

 cowbird, but deposits an egg three times as large. The 

 young have so developed within twenty-four hours after 

 hatching that they may be seen following their parent about 

 the edges of our creeks and ponds. 



LONG-BILLED CURLEW 



This king of shore birds is the largest of his tribe, and 

 seems to reign supreme in the territory over which he 

 ranges. The Curlew has retreated since the settlement of 

 the middle and western United States, as not many years 

 ago it was of regular occurrence from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, while it is now rare east of the Mississippi. Vast 

 stretches of uncultivated lands of the West still afford 

 the curlew suitable feeding and breeding grounds, so they 

 still abound in the prairies of Nebraska, Colorado, and 

 Montana. During my trip up the Yellowstone River, in 

 1906, I found this bird far out on the prairies, in company 

 with upland plover and the sage hen. During the heat of 

 the day the birds appear in pairs about small alkali pools, 

 where the remarkably long bill is perfectly adapted for 

 removing crawfish from their holes. 



I watched a pair through my field glasses as they were 

 feeding about a pond. Presently they flew to the distant 

 hills. Long had I wished to locate a curlew's nest. The 

 female had undoubtedly returned to her eggs. Distance 



