258 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
The aerial performance, analogous to that of the Woodcock, is 
characteristic of the Jack Snipe in the breeding season. Sometimes he 
makes a sudden descent of five or six hundred feet, after circling high in 
the air with a “quivering motion of the wings” and what Mr. Eaton 
desciibes as a weird tremulous crescendo whistle, resembling some¬ 
what the distant or muffled bleating of a kid, or the sound of an old 
fashioned fan-mill, whence the notes have been known as the ‘bleating’ 
or ‘winnowing’ of the Snipe” (1909, pp. 302). 
Additional Literature.—Brewster, William, Bull. Museum Comp. Zool., 
Harvard College, LXVI, 232-240, 1925.—Gkinnell, Joseph, Pacific Coast Avi¬ 
fauna, No. 1 , 22, 1900, Grbinell, Bryant, and Stoker, Game Birds of California, 
350-35S, 1918. Hoffman, Ralph, Condor, XXVI, 175-170, 1924.—Rockwell, 
R. B., Condor, XIV, 125-126, 1912 (nest). —Saunders, A. A., Condor, XII 197 
1910 (nest).— Sutton, G. M., Wilson Bulletin, XXXV, 191-202, 1923 (nesting).— 
Thayer, G. H., Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, pp. 33-34 Pies 
25-26, 1909. ’ 
CURLEWS, etc.: Subfamily Numeniinae 
LONG-BILLED CURLEW: Numenius americanus americanus Bechstein 
Plate 25 
Description.— Size largo. Length: About 20-26 inches, wing 10-11, bill (in old 
birds) 8.5, tarsus 3-3.5. Bill slender and doumeurved, upper mandible longer than 
ower; front toes webbed toward base. Adults in breeding plumage: General color 
varying in intensity in individuals,” pinkish cinnamon, except chin and throat 
which are much lighter; top of head streaked with black, back and shoulders, streaked 
and barred with dusky, in coarse “herring-bone” pattern; rump dusky, spotted with 
cinnamon; upper tail coverts and tail barred; wings largely barred; axiliars and under 
wmg coverts deep pinkish cinnamon sometimes immaculate, sometimes sparsely 
barred (R.dgway); neck and chest streaked, belly plain cinnamon, sides and flanks 
sparsely and narrowly barred; iris brown, bill dusky, paling to flesh-color at base of 
lower mandible legs and feet bluish gray. Adults in winter plumage: Similar to 
summer adults, but general coloration deeper pinkish vinaceous, especially on under¬ 
parts. Young in juvenal plumage: Similar to adult except in measurements; “dis¬ 
tinguishable only by soft juvenal character of plumage” (Forbush). 
billedTom I TtV" P !L in n T™ 17 barred ’ Pinki8h axiIIars distinguish the Long- 
billed from all the other Curlews; saw-toothed markings on the wing quills dis- 
(SeeT 261 ^ Eskimo; and an even, y stri Ped crown, from the Hudsonian. 
Range.— Breeds from semi-arid interior of British Columbia, southern Alberta 
and southern Manitoba south to northwestern Texas, northern New Mexico and 
northeastern California; winters from central California and southern Arizona south 
Gulf'coasts! tema ' a ’ ° aXaCa ’ aml L ° Wer C “’- a >*° on South I“ nd 
State Records.— The breeding range of the Long-billed Curlew extends south 
W C "! M T CO ° n thC Plain8 and ia the lcwer valleys. (It breeds from 
RosweU northward and west to Vaughn, Wagonmound and Springer, but most coT 
(Lkln Tooyn s 8 ’ S ° Ut !‘ ° f ( ? layton and in the Ute Creek Valley, east of Roy 
( gon, 1927).] Specimens have been taken in Colfax County (Charles Springer) 
Some were taken at Raton May 10, 1901. Near Montoya a pair with haff-grown 
