SHORE BIRDS. 



221 



The herons are succeeded by the singular spoon-bills, repre- 

 sented by the roseate spoon-bill {Platalea ajaja), and which, 

 with the wood Ibis and other species of this group, adorn 

 the swamps and bayous of the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States. 



The shore-birds, or the curlews (Numeni'iis longirostris, 

 Fig. 261), plover, sandpipes, peeps, snipes [Oallinago Wil- 

 sonii, Fig. 262), woodcock, and stilt {Himantopus nigricol- 

 lis. Fig. 263), are long-legged, long-billed birds, going in 

 flocks by the seashore or river-banks, sometimes living in- 

 land on low plains; they are not, generally speaking, nest- 



Fia. 261,— Long-billed Curlew. 



Fia. 262. — American Snipe. 



builders, the eggs being laid in rude nests or hollows in the 

 ground. They feed on worms, insects, and snails, either 

 picking them up from the surface or boring for them in 

 the mud or sand, or forcing the vermian food out of their 

 holes by stamping on the ground. The American snipe 

 {Gallinago Wihonii, Fig. 262) has the bill much longer than 

 the head, perfectly straight, soft to the end, where it is 

 somewhat widened and grooved on top; it is 9-11 inches 

 long; it lives in open, wet places, and is migratory. In the 

 American woodcock [Philohela minor) the bill is much 

 longer than the head, stout and deep at base, grooved nearly 



