552 WELLOW-CROWNED HERON. 
The Long-billed Curlew is twenty-five inches in length, and three 
feet three inches in extent;,and, when in good order, weighs about 
‘thirty ounces, but individuals differ greatly in this respect ; the bill is 
eight inches long, nearly straight for half its length, thence curving 
considerably downwards to its extremity, where it ends in an obtuse 
knob that overhangs the lower mandible; the color, black, except 
towards the base of the lower, where it is of a pale flesh color ; 
tongue, extremely short, differing in this from the snipe ; eye, dark; 
, the general color of the plumage above is black, spotted and barred 
along the edge of each feather with pale brown; chin, line over the 
eye and round the same, pale brownish white; neck, reddish brown, 
streaked with black; spots on the breast more sparingly dispersed ; 
belly, thighs, and vent, pale, plain rufous,’ without any spots; prima- 
ries, black on the outer edges, pale brown on the inner, and barred 
with black ; shaft of the outer one, snowy ; rest of the wing, pale red- 
dish brown, elegantly barred with undulating lines of black ; tail, 
slightly rounded, of an ashy brown, beautifully marked with herring- 
bones of black; legs and naked thighs, very pale light blue, or. lead 
color ; the middle toe connected with the two outer ones as far as the 
first joint by a membrane, and bordered along the sides with a thick, 
warty edge ; lining of the wing, dark rufous, approaching a chestnut, 
and thinly spotted with black. The male and female alike in plu- 
mage. The bill continues to grow in length until the second season, 
when the bird:receives its perfect plumage. The stomach of this spe- 
cies is lined with an extremely thick skin, feeling td the touch like 
the rough, hardened palm of a sailor or blacksmith. The intestines 
are very tender, measuring usually about three feet in length, and as 
thick as a swan’s quill. On the front, under the skin, there are two 
thick callosities, which border the upper side of the eye, lying close tc 
the skull. These are common, I believe, to most of the tringa and 
scolopax tribes, and are probably designed to protect the skull from 
injury while the bird is probing and searching in the sand and mud. 
YELLOW-CROWNED HERON. — ARDEA VIOLACEA,— 
: Fie, 260. 
Le Crabier de Bahama, Briss. v. p: 481, 41. — Crested Bittern, Catesby, i. p. 79. 
—Le Crabier Gris de fer, Buff. vii. p. 399.—Arct. Zool. No. 352. — Peale’s 
Museum, No, 3738. 
NYCTICORAX VIOLACEA — Bonapante.* 
Ardea violacea, Bonap. Synop. p. 306: 
a ; : j 
Turs is one of the nocturnal species of the Heron tribe, whose man- ~ 
ners, place, and mode of building its nest, resemble greatly those of 
the Common Night Heron, (Ardea nycticoraz ;) the form of its bill is 
* This curious species is'an instance of one of those connecimg links which inter- 
vene constantly among what have been defined JSixed groups. The general form 
I EEL 
