SHORE BIRDS. 
221 
The herons are succeeded by the singular spoon-bilis, 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 {Numeniiis longirostris, 
Fig. 261), plover, sandpipes, peeps, snipes {Gallinago Wil- 
sonii, Fig. 262), woodcock, and stilt {Hmantopiis 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- 
FiQ. 261.— Long-billed Curlew. Fig. 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 Wilsonii, 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 
