HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 
399 
he did quite leisurely, going only a short distance and, alighting in the shallow water, be¬ 
gan to feed. I passed quite a large number during that tramp, all equally tame, besides 
Ducks and other shore birds in almost countless numbers. Five or six years later, I walked 
over the same ground, but then it was no unusual thing to hear the crack of the breech¬ 
loader, where before, the sound of a gun was scarcely known, and when I got a Long¬ 
billed Curlew this time, it was only by stalking it with as much caution as if it had been 
a deer. 
The Long-billed Curlews are abundant from the Carolinas, southward, in winter, fre¬ 
quenting the muddy flats which are left exposed by the tide, and probing in them with their 
long bills, in search of animal food; but how they manage to eat with a bill, often over 
eight inches long, with the aid of a tongue which but little exceeds an inch in length, is a 
mystery. These Curlews migrate along the Atlantic coast during September, but I never 
saw one in the North in spring. They breed throughout the West. 
NUMENIUS HUDSONTCUS. 
Hudsonian Curlew. 
Numenius Hudsonicus Lath., Ind. Orn, II.; 1790, 712. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, robust. Size, medium. Tongue, short, 120 long, somewhat fleshy, and narrowing gradually to tip 
which is pointed. 
Color. Adult. Above, dark-brown, lightest on rump, streaked and spotted, on neck and body, and banded on tail 
and inner webs of primaries, with ashy-yellow. Top of head, dark-brown, with a central line and one from bill over eye, 
ashy-yellow. ’Beneath, ashy-yellow, streaked on neck and breast and banded on sides and under wings, with dark-brown. 
Young. Similar, but paler and the markings are not as well defined. Bill, brown, yellow at base of lower mandible, 
iris and feet, brown, in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known from preceding species by the smaller size and paler cold’s and from the succeeding by the large size 
and banded inner webs to primaries. Distributed, in summer, throughout Arctic America.* Not uncommon on the coast 
of the Northern States in autumn. Winters south of the United States. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 17‘50; stretch, 32'25; wing, 9 - 85; tail, 
2 - 90; bill, 3 - 50; tarsus, 2-25. Longest specimen, 18-00; greatest extent of wing, 33'50; longest wing, 10-50; tail, .305; bill, 
4'00; tarsus, 2 35. Shortest specimen, L7"00; smallest extent of wing, 33‘00; shortest wing, 9-25; tail, 2 80; bill, 3 00; tar¬ 
sus, 2-15. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Eggs placed on the ground in a slight depression of the soil, on a little grass, etc., three or four in number, oval in 
form,varying from ashy-yellow to greenish in color, spotted and blotched irregularly, and thickly, with brown and umber 
of varying shades. Dimensions from l - 50x2-20 to l"60x2-30. 
HABITS. 
The Hudsonian, or Jack Curlews of Sportsmen, make their appearance in Massachu¬ 
setts, early in September, and frequent the hill-tops, in company with the Plovers and Es¬ 
quimaux Curlews. Although they are far from being .abundant, they cannot be considered 
rare, as quite a number are taken every season. I do not think that they are much more 
common than the Long-billed Curlews, but many more are killed each season, as they are 
not nearly as shy. The Hudsonian Curlews occur on the coast of New Jersey, but do not 
seem to be taken regularly south of this point, and I never met with them in Florida. These 
Curlews appear to resemble the Long-billed more than the Esquimaux, in habits, being 
rather solitary, and seldom associating in flocks of any size 
