ON THE NESTING OF CERTAIN HAWKS, ETC. 601 
tance by its resemblance to a miniature crane; its body white, and 
wings black, its long blue legs stretched stiffly straight behind, and 
the measured sweep of its ample wings, unlike the quicker beats of 
the thin, pointed pinions of its allies. Its voice is also character- 
istic; the harsh noise is incessant when the breeding places are 
invaded. This bird must nest quite early; as I found no eggs, 
and by the middle of July well grown and completely feathered 
young birds were flocking. These may be distinguished from the 
adults among other marks, by the curiously swollen condition of 
the shank; the upper part of the tarsus being two or three times 
as thick as the tibia. It is much the same with the phalaropes 
and other waders. As regards the singular bill of the avocet, the 
amount of curvature of which has occasioned no little discussion, 
I may observe that I have shot some birds with the bill about as 
much curved as it is represented to be in Wilson’s figure, which 
has been severely criticised, and others with the bill as straight 
as Audubon drew it; nor was the difference, so far as I could see, 
anything more than fortuitous. The degree of swimming power 
the avocet possesses has also been variously estimated. The bird 
generally wades about after its food; but on striking a deep place 
gins to swim without the slightest hesitation; and moreover, I 
have seen it alight from on wing on deep water, and swim about 
as freely as a duck. In this respect, the avocet and the phalarope 
are about on a par. 
One of the most generally diffused of the birds that breed 
along the Upper Missouri and in the Milk river region is the 
long-billed curlew (Numenius longirostris). I have travelled for 
days together and scarcely lost sight of these birds for an hour, 
during the daytime ; while at night their piercing and lugubrious 
cries resounded to the howling of the wolves. There is something 
peculiarly melancholy, and almost foreboding, in their screams, 
in these remote wilds, where the traveller is never entirely 
free from a sense of contingent danger. The birds breed any- 
Where on the broad prairie—perhaps oftenest in the vicinity of 
Pools and sloughs, but not necessarily near water. The eggs are 
mostly laid in June, but there is a wide range in the time. Thus 
I have taken a set in July, having previously caught young birds. 
These, like other waders when young, have a curiously clumsy 
and gawky appearance when running over the prairie, as if their 
were too long and heavy to be easily managed. They may 
