422 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. IX. 



whitish; rest of under parts, pale reddish brown, becoming very light 

 on the belly; breast, narrowly striped with brown on the middle of the 

 feathers; bill, very long; axillars, rufous brown. 



Axillars and first primary of Long-billed Curlew. 



Adult in winter: General plumage, tawny brown; the back, 

 blackish, mottled with buff; top of the head, dark brown; the feathers 

 edged with tawny; throat, white; under parts, pale buff brown; 

 feathers on the lower throat and upper breast, finely lined with dark 

 brown; bill, very long and curved downward; bill, black, becoming 

 dull lilac brown on basal half of the mandible; axillars, rufous brown. 



Length, 26; wing, 10.50; tarsus, 2.30; bill, very variable, meas- 

 uring from 2.3 to 9. 



The immature of this species has the bill nearly straight, but quite 

 short, sometimes not exceeding two inches in length. 



The Long-billed Curlew was once a common migrant in Illinois 

 and Wisconsin, but is now rather rare. 



Mr. Nelson states that a pair nested on the Calumet Marshes, 

 near Chicago, in 1873. It arrives about the last of April and leaves 

 for the south early in October. According to Kumlien and Hollister, 

 it was once very abundant in Wisconsin and bred in numbers. They 

 say: "As an illustration of the former numbers of the curlew, Mr. 

 Skavlem tells of his boyhood experiences in the early fifties when he 

 was set to following the plows when breaking up the virgin prairie 

 sod and gathering up the eggs for the house." (Birds of Wisconsin, 



i9°3. P- 52-) 



The eggs of the Long-billed Curlew are three or four in number, 

 grayish green or pale olive buff, blotched and marked with chocolate 

 brown, and measure about 2.55 x 1.85 inches. 



