376 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



In the females the colour of the head and neck is paler, approaching to buff-orange, and 

 the scapulars are browner. Their bills are about a quarter of an inch shorter : other dimen- 

 sions the same. 



Form. — Bill long and slender, much depressed, curved upwards, the extreme tip bent 

 down. Wimjs shorter than the even tail ; first and second quills longest. No visible lateral 

 scales on the thighs. Tarsi compressed, covered with very delicate scales, the lateral ones 

 merely indicated. Anterior toes connected by thick and deeply emarginated webs, which 

 include one phalanx of the inner toe and two of the outer one, but are prolonged as a bor- 

 dering to the next joint. Nails nearly straight. Hind toe very small, and articulated high up. 









Dimensions 



















Of the male. 













' 



Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 



Length, total . . 



18 







Length of bill above . 



. 3 



m 



Length of middle nail 



. 



H 



„ of tail 



4 



3 



„ of naked thigh 



. 2 



6 



,, of hind toe 



. 



l 



„ of wing 



. 9 







,, of tarsus . . 



3 



9 



„ of its nail 



. 



of 



„ of bill to rictus 



. 4 



1 



,, of middle toe . 



. 1 



n 









[144.] 1. Numenius longirostris. (Wilson.) Long-billed Curlew. 



Gfexus, Numenius, Lath. 



Long-billed Curlew (Numenius longiroslra). Wils., viii., p. 23, pi. 64, f. 4. 



Numenius longirostris. Bonap. Syn., No. 242. 



A specimen of this Curlew exists in the Hudson's Bay Museum, but the parti- 

 cular district of the fur-countries from whence it was procured has not been 

 noted. I have reason to believe, however, that it frequents the plains of the 

 Saskatchewan and banks of the Columbia. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen (No. 25) in the Hudson's Bay Museum. 



Colour. — Upper plumage dark liver-brown, with marginal marks of wood-brown, — these 

 colours forming transverse bars on the lesser quills, tail coverts, and tail. Primaries blackish- 

 brown, the posterior ones barred with wood-brown, which also forms the ground colour of 

 their inner webs ; shaft of the outer one white. Under plumage, long axillaries, inner 

 wing coverts, and thighs, buff-yellow ; the belly unspotted ; the throat and breast striped in 

 the centres with liver-brown. A pale superciliary line, and a dark line on the lores ; but 

 no medial stripe on the crown, which is coloured like the fore part of the back. Chin 

 whitish. Bill blackish-brown ; flesh-coloured at the base beneath. Legs lead-grey. 



Form. — Bill more arched and much longer than that of N. Hudsonicus, being even longer 

 than that of N. arquata. Tail rounded. Tarsus scutellated anteriorly with large transverse 

 scales*. Nail of the right middle toe deeply crenated or fissured ; of the left one entire. 



* The tarsus of N. arquata is scutellated on its anterior lower half only. 



