646 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LIMICOL^. 
scarcely rufous, the under parts, and the variegation of the upper, being whitish or ochraceous. 
No white on rump, tail, or lining of wings. Top of head uniform blackish-brown, with well- 
defined whitish median and lateral stripes (as in phcBopus, but neither longirostris nor horealis). 
Upper parts brownish-black, speckled with whitish, ochraceous or pale cinnamon-brown, in 
same pattern as in longirostris^ but the dark in excess of the light colors, and these never 
strongly rufescent. Tail ashy-brown (not rufous), with numerous narrow blackish bars. Prima- 
ries fuscous, marbled or broken-barred with pale color (pattern as in longirostris^ tone not 
strongly rufous). Lining of wings and axillars rufescent, but spotted or ban-ed throughout with 
dusky. Under parts soiled whitish or somewhat ochraceous, only obscurely rufescent on cris- 
sum, if anywhere ; the jugulum and fore-breast with dusky streaks which, as in other species, 
change to arrow-heads or incomplete bars on sides of breast and body. Bill blackish, some 
part of lower mandible pale ; feet dark. The N. Am. representative of N. phcsopus, but 
obviously different ; generally distributed, not so common as either longirostris or horealis ; 
breeds in high latitudes, migratory through the U. S., wintering in the S. States and far beyond. 
Eggs of intermediate size, but not distinguishable with certainty, the markings being as in 
other species; 2.12 to 2.30 long, by about 1.60 broad. 
646. N. borealis. (Lat. horealis, northern.) Eskimo Curlew. Dough-bird. Of smallest 
size ; biU short, slender, and little curved. Bill 2.00 or more, perhaps never 3.00. Length 
12.00-15.00; extent 28.00 ; wing under 9.00; tail 3.00; tarsus 2.00 or less. General tone 
little rufescent, the under parts and the variegation of the upper rather ochraceous than rufous. 
Top of head variegated throughout, without median line, but with tolerably well defined 
whitish superciliary stripes. Upper parts brownish-black, speckled with ochraceous or very 
pale cinnamon brown, the general efiect as in hudsonicus ; dark coloration in excess of the 
pale. Tail barred much as in hudsonicus, the broader light bars often rufescent. Primaries 
and most secondaries plain fuscous, entirely lacking the variegation seen in the foregoing. 
Under parts ochraceous, or somewhat rufescent, very variable, frequently whitish, marked as 
in other species with dusky streaks, arrow-heads, or bars, but these more numerous, frequently 
occupying aU the under parts, excepting chin and middle of belly. Axillars and lining of 
wings rufescent, barred throughout with dark brown. Bill black, with base of lower mandible 
pale or yellowish ; feet greenish-black. In handling perhaps a hundred fresh-killed birds, I 
have noted much variation in tone, but the species is unmistakable. N. Am. at large, breeding 
within the Arctic circle, migrating through the U. S., where rarely if ever known to winter, 
never to summer, and wintering in C. and S. Am. Extraordinarily abundant in some places 
during the migration, as in Labrador, where it fairly swarms in August. In the northern 
regions, feeds chiefly on the Empetrum nigrum. Nest in open plains. Eggs 4, from 1.90 to 2.12 
long, by 1.33 to 1.40 broad ; olive-drab, tending to green, gray, or brown in different cases, with 
large, bold and numerous markings of bistre, chocolate and sepia-brown, tending to aggregate 
on the greater end, with the ordinary stone-gray shell-marks. 
647. N. ta'iten'sis. (Of Otahiti.) Otahiti Curlew. Bristle-bellied Curlew. Of medium 
size, about equalling N. pheeopus ; wing 9.00 or more; tail 4.00 ; bill about 3.50 ; tarsus about 
2.25. Crown with light median and superciliary lines; upper parts brownish-black, with, the 
usual tawny variegation ; no white on rump, tail, or lining of wings ; tail and its coverts tawny, 
the coverts spotted or streaked with dusky, the rectrices pretty regularly and firmly baiTed with 
about 6 dusky bands, and tipped with tawny-w^hite ; lining of wings and axillars fully barred 
with tawny and dusky. Primaries blackish, varied to some extent on inner webs, the shaft of 
the first white. Under parts pale tawny, the chin white, the jugulum thickly streaked, the 
sides more loosely barred with dusky, but most of under parts immaculate, and many feathers, 
especially of the flanks, ending in long glistening bristles. Bill and feet dark. Alaska, not 
common, perhaps only a straggler from Asia ; a well-known and abundant curlew of various 
Pacific islands, only recently added to our fauna. 
