LONG.BILLED CURLEW. 
25 
dered along the sides with a thick warty edge ; lining of the wing 
dark rufous, approaching a chestnut, and thinly spotted with black. 
Male and female alike in plumage. The bill continues to grow 
in length until the second season, when the bird receives its per- 
fect plumage. The stomach of this species is lined with an ex- 
tremely thick skin, feeling to the touch like the rough hardened 
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. 
This species was observed by Lewis and Clarke as high up as 
the sources of the Missouri. On the 22d of 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, 8vo. 
VOL. VIII. 
G 
