564 THE UL'DSUMAS CURLEW. 



gray and streaked with short marks of dark brown. The under tail-coverts are white. Both 

 sexes arc colored alike, and the average length is rather more than twenty inches. 



The Long-billed Curlew {Nwm&iuus loiiglrostris) inhabits the United States generally, 

 and the British provinces, breeding nearly throughout its range. It reaches south into 

 Mexico. It is regarded as rather uncommon in New England. Great numbers breed about 

 Great Salt Lake, and in Texas. It is quite as often seen in the interior as on the coast, visit- 

 ing often the .meat dry plains, where it feeds on mollusca, insects, etc., and even berries. Dr. 

 Newberry found them associating in great numbers with geese and other water-birds, which 

 were congregated in countless numbers on the low lands bordering the Columbia Biver, in 

 October. This bird was, for a time, thought to be identical with the European, but is now 

 known to be distinct. It breeds in Labrador, and the neighborhood of Hudson's Bav. This 

 species is twenty -live inches in length, and thirty-nine inches in alar extent. The bill is eight 

 inches in Length. The bill continues to grow in length until the second season. In the front, 

 under the skin, there are two thick callosities, which border the upper side of the eye, lying 

 close to the skull. These are common to most of this group of birds, and are designed, prob- 

 ably, to protect the eye from injury as it thrusts the bill into the soil. The sexes are alike in 

 plumage. This Curlew Hies high and rapidly, generally throwing itself with others, when in 

 company, into an angular wedge, after the manner of wild geese; uttering, as they fly and 

 when all alarmed, a loud, sharp, whistling, and almost barking note, sometimes, as in other 

 species of the family, strongly resembling the sibilation of the word Jcurlew, and from whence 

 they derive their characteristic name, adopted in many languages. By a dexterous imitation 

 of this note, the sportsman very successfully arrests its flight. "In the Boston market,"' says 

 Nuttall, "they are seen as early as 8th of August, having already raised their brood, and pro- 

 ceeded thus far towards their winter quarters." 



The HudsonIxVn Curlew {Numenlus hvdsonius). This much less common species is 

 native to North America, Greenland, Central and South America. It breeds in high latitudes. 

 In Labrador it is seen in small numbers with the countless thousands of the Esquimaux Cur- 

 lew that throng the shores in August and September. It is rare in New England, but is seen 

 on the Jersey coast. 



Audubon writes: " I have found this species abundant on the shores of New Jersey in the 

 month of May, and there they remain a few weeks. I once saw a large flock of them near 

 Charleston, in the month of December, and I have found them in the Boston market in Sep- 

 tember. None were ever seen by me in any part of the interior, where, indeed, it is probable 

 they very seldom make their appearance. Having compared specimens of the present species with 

 the Whirabrelof Europe (JYumenius pliosopus), I am satisfied that they are perfectly distinct.'' 



As Audubon has nothing of any importance to add, we may jiresent a few T extracts from 

 Wilson and Nuttall, both of whom have had opportunities of observing this species. 



"The Short-billed Curlew," says the former, "arrives in large flocks on the sea-coast of 

 New Jersey early in May, from the south, frequents the salt-marshes, muddy shores, and 

 inlets, feeding on small worms and minute shellfish. They are most commonly seen on mud- 

 flats at low water, in company with various other waders, and, at high water, roam along the 

 marshes. They fly high, and with great rapidity. A few are seen in June, and as late as the 

 beginning of .luly, when they generally move off toward the north. Their appearance on 

 these occasions is very interesting. They collect together from the marshes as if by pre- 

 meditated design, rise to a great height in the air, usually an hour before sunset, and, forming 

 in one vast line, keep up a constant whistling on their way to the north, as if conversing with 

 one another to render the journey more agreeable. Their Might is then more slow and regular, 

 that the feeblest may keep up with the line of march ; while the glittering of their beautifully 

 speckled wings, sparkling in the sun. produces altogether a very pleasing spectacle. 



•' In the mouth of June, while tin- dewberries are ripe, these birds sometimes frequent the 

 fields, in company with the Long-billed Curlews, where brambles abound, soon get very fat, 

 and are at that time excellent eating." 



