336 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 
of a man to all their congeners scattered over a large area. 
The result of their signal of danger is, very often, the 
discomfiture of the fowler, and the choleric expulsion of 
words that are not supposed to be used by angels. If they 
are not shot at much, they become quite tame, and some- 
times follow a plowman so closely, in their eagerness to 
feast on the worms in the newly-turned furrow, that he 
can kill some with his whip. If a person is concealed 
in shrubbery, or behind driftwood, he may be able 
to bring them within reach by imitating their wailing 
notes, by waving a black handkerchief from the top 
of a stick, or by using decoys on the sand bars which 
they frequent. Wing-tipped birds make capital “ stools,” 
as they cry loudly, flutter their wings, and make such a 
racket that their kindred descend to learn what ails them, 
-and keep sweeping round and round them until several 
are shot. - When the birds fly in herds from one point to 
another, a man may be abie to bag several, if he is under 
cover on their line of flight, but if they detect him by the 
color of his clothes or any want of carefulness on his 
part, he will only have his pains for his labor. The 
usual charge for curlews is four and a half drachms 
of powder and one and a quarter ounces of No. 7 
shot; but if they are mingled with other birds, some 
sportsmen prefer No. 9, as that is sufficiently effective 
for all classes). The most marked member of this 
genus is the sickle-bill, or long-billed curlew (Nu- 
menius longirostris), which has a bill ranging from 
five to nine inches in length. Its hue is rufous, with 
blackish markings. It is very abundant, especially 
in the Far West. The jack curlew (WV. hudsonicus) is 
smaller than the one mentioned, somewhat paler, and its 
bill is only three or four inches long. It is quite common. 
The dough-bird, or Esquimaux curlew (WV. borealis), is 
smaller than the preceding, and like it in color, but its 
bill is much shorter, being less than three inches. This 
