98 
LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 
in length until the second season, when the bird receives its 
perfect plumage. The stomach of this species is lined with an 
extremely thick skin, feeling to the touch like the rough har- 
dened palm of a sailor or blacksmith. The intestines are very 
tender, measuring usually about three feet in length, and as 
thick as a Swan’s quill. On the front, under the skin, there are 
two thick callosities, which border the upper side of the eye, 
lying close to the skull. These are common, I believe, to most 
of the Tringa and Scolopax tribes, and are probably designed 
to protect the skull from injury while the bird is probing and 
searching in the sand and mud. 
Note. This species was observed by Lewis and Clarke as 
high up as the sources ol the Missouri. On the twenty-second 
June they found the females were sitting: the eggs, which are 
of a pale blue, with black specks, were laid upon the bare ground. 
Hist, of the Exped. vol. i, p. 279, Bvo. 
