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ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 
Numenius arquata of Europe is distinguished by its head, not 
parted by the central line, its large size, long arched bill, 
white rump, white under wing-coverts and axillary feathers : its 
American analogue, whose still longer bill has gained for it the 
name of longirostris, has the croupe of the same dark colour as 
the body, with the under wing-coverts, &c. rust-coloured. The 
phseopus of Europe, and hudsonicus of North America, similar 
in colour and stature, and each ornamented with the medial 
coronal line, are in like manner distinguishable, the former by 
the white, the other by the dark coloured croupe; and by the 
under coverts, in the European white banded with black, whilst 
in the American they are banded with black and rusty. 
The two smallest, the present American species, and the JV. 
tenuirostris of Europe, though less completely analogous, are never¬ 
theless both destitute of the coronal line : the present has the 
rump dark, and the under wing-coverts banded with black and 
rusty; while the slender-billed has them pure white, as well as the 
rump, and ground of the tail-feathers. The diminutive size of 
the Esquimaux Curlew will certainly prevent its being confounded 
with the gigantic JV. longirostris, especially as its bill is remarkably 
short, and but little arcuated. 
The reader will here have already remarked, we are confident, 
the curious fact, that all the European species of JVumenius have 
white rumps and white under wing-coverts ; whilst the American 
all have the former uniform in colour with the remainder of the 
plumage, and the latter rust-coloured. 
The true Esquimaux Curlew, (we say the true, for it is neither 
the Esquimaux Curlew of Wilson nor of the Arctic Zoology,) is 
one of the four species that are destitute of the medial coronal 
line. It is easily known from the large species by its diminutive 
size, from the small ones by wanting the white rump, from all 
by its very short bill. 
