101 
SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 
always to be pointing down as they fly, their whole bodies tipping 
violently when they alight. This teetering motion, which becomes 
ridiculously rapid under excitement or alarm, has given the bird its 
familiar names of tip-up and teeter-tail. 
GENUS NUMENTUS. 
General Characters. — Bill curved and slender, longer than tarsus ; front 
of tarsus with transverse scutellae ; toes webbed at base. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Bill of adult longer than tarsus and middle toe ; crown not striped. 
longirostris, p. 101. 
V. Bill not longer than tarsus and middle toe. 
2. Crown black with middle line of buff . . . hudsonicus, p. 102. 
2'. Crown specked, without middle line of buff . . borealis, p. 102. 
264. Numenius longirostris Wils. Long-billed Curlew. 
Plumage light cinnamon, barred and mottled on upper parts with dusky 
and black ; outer webs of outer quills wholly black ; head, neck, throat, 
and chest streaked with dusky ; crown mainly dusky; belly plain cinna¬ 
mon ; chin whitish. Length : 20-26, wing 10—11, bill 2.30 in young of 
year to 8.50 in old birds; tarsus 3.00-3.50. 
Distribution. — Whole of temperate North America, breeding from 
Texas to Canada, migrating to Guatemala, Cuba, and Jamaica. 
Nest. — A depression in the ground lined with grass. Eggs : 3 or 4, 
grayish buff to pale buffy brown, spotted with dark brown and lilac. 
On the prairies in migration you sometimes see a flock of a 
hundred curlew flying high overhead in long shifting lines of form¬ 
ing and dissolving wedges; and on the irrigated fields of the in¬ 
terior, in marked contrast to the white moving throng of small bob¬ 
bing snipe and sandpipers, you often find a small company of the 
big, brown, round-backed Numenius with their long, curved bills 
down before them, stalking along with dignified demeanor. As 
they rise and fly you get a flash of rich, warm color, and your ear is 
startled by their stirring clarion call. When they come to earth, 
like other waders they raise their wings over the back for an instant 
with most striking effect. 
When an intruder approaches their breeding grounds they often 
come over the prairie to meet him and circle around with wild cries 
and shrill laughter. 
There is little excuse for killing these splendid birds for game, as 
they make too easy a mark for any true sportsman, and when taken 
are of little use, as their flesh is tough and dry. 
Colonel Goss gives their food as worms, crickets, beetles, grass¬ 
hoppers, small snails, crabs, and crawfish, and says that they reach 
for the crabs with their long bills and pull them out of their holes, 
and probe for larvae that come near the surface in spring. 
