LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 243 



on sticks in front of them ; and ere long every one felt perfectly contented. 

 It is true we had forgotten to bring salt with us ; but I soon proved to 

 my merry companions that hunters can find a good substitute in their 

 powder-flasks. Our salt on this occasion was gunpowder, as it has been 

 with me many a time ; and to our keen appetites, the steaks thus salted 

 were quite as savoury as any of us ever found the best cooked at home. 

 Our fingers and mouths, no doubt, bore marks of the " villanous salt- 

 petre/' or rather of the charcoal with which it was mixed, for plates or 

 forks we had none ; but this only increased our mirth. Supper over, we 

 spread out our blankets on the log floor, extended ourselves on them with 

 our feet towards the fire, and our arms under our heads for pillows. I 

 need not tell you how soundly we slept. 



The Long-biUed Curlews are in general easily shot, but take a good 

 charge. So long as life remains in them, they skulk off among the thick- 

 est plants, remaining perfectly silent. Should they fall on the water, 

 they swim towards the shore. The birds that may have been in com- 

 pany with a wounded one fly ofi* uttering a few loud whistling notes. In 

 this respect, the species differs from all the others, which commonly re- 

 main and fly about you. When on land, they are extremely wary ; and 

 vmless the plants are high, and you can conceal yourself from them, it is 

 very difficult to get near enough. Some one of the flock, acting as senti- 

 nel, raises his wings, as if about to fly, and sounds a note of alarm, on 

 which they all raise their wings, close them again, give over feeding, and 

 watch all your motions. At times a single step made by you beyond a 

 certain distance is quite enough to raise them, and the moment it takes 

 place, they all scream and fly off". You need not follow the flock. The 

 best mode of shooting them is to watch their course for several evenings 

 in succession ; for after having chosen a resting place, they are sure to 

 return to it by the same route, until greatly annoyed. 



The food of the Long-billed Curlews consists principally of the small 

 crabs called fiddlers, which they seize by running after them, or by pull- 

 ing them out of their burrows. They probe the wet sand to the full 

 length of their bill, in quest of sea-worms and other animals. They are 

 also fond of small salt-water shell-fish, insects, and worms of any kind; 

 but I have never seen them searching for berries on elevated lands, as 

 the Esquimaux Curlews are wont to do. Their flesh is by no means so 

 delicate as that of the species just mentioned, for it has usually a fishy 

 taste, and is rarely tender, although many persons consider it good. They 



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