60 
NU.VIENIUS LONGIROSTRIS. 
of which a whole flock may sometimes be entice^ 
withiii gunshot, while the dies of the wounded at' 
sure to aetaiii them until the gunner has made repeated 
shots and great havoc among them. 
This species is said to breed in Labrador, and in tlk 
neighbourhood of Hudson’s Bay. A few instance* 
nave been known of one or two pair remaiiiinip in the 
salt marshes of Cape May all summer. A person o* 
respectability informed me, that ho once started 9 
curlew from her nest, which was composed of a littk 
dry grass, and contained four eggs, very much reseiB' 
bling in size and colour those of the mud hen, of 
clapper rail. This ivas in the month of July. Case* 
ot this kind are so rare, that the northern regions miis' 
be considered as the general breeding place of thi* 
species. 
The long-hilled curlew is twenty-five inches in lenMbi 
and three feet three inches in e.xteut, and, when !■* 
good order, iveighs about thirty ounces ; hut iiidividuiJ* 
difier greatly in this respect; the bill is eight inche* 
long, nearly straight for half its length, thence curvin? 
considerably downwards to its extremity, where it end* 
in an obtuse knob that overhangs the lower iiiaiidihleJ 
the colour black, e.xcept towards the base of the lower, 
where i«,ot a pale flesh colour; tongue, extremclf 
short, differing in this from the snipe ; eye, dark ; thr 
general colour of the plumage above is lilack, spotted 
and barred along the edge of each feather « ith pal« 
brown ; chin line over the eye and round the saiiifi 
’ "'liite; neck, reddish brown, streaked 
with black; s|iots on the breast more spariimlv diS" 
parsed; belly, thighs, and vent, pale plain rufoul with' 
out any spots; primaries, black on the outer ed,res pair 
brown on the inner, and barred with black ;''shaft b*’ 
the outer one snowy ; rest of the wing, pale reddish 
brown elegantly barred with undulating lines of black! 
tail, slightly rounded, of an ashy brown, beaiitifuU.V 
marked ivith herring bones of black ; legs and naked 
thighs, very pale light blue, or lead colour, the middl« 
toe connected with the two outer ones as far as the 
