Alive in this world of beautiful forms,
No form is alien to men, or apart,
Each morning sunbeam our being warms,
Each tree is a kinsman of friendly heart.
We love the clear bird songs that fill our ear
With melody ringing for us alone.
The cricket’s chirp is for us, and we hear
A human voice in the rivulet’s tone.
Each lovely thing of nature finds room
In our heart of hearts—our lover and mate,
The star and the dew and the vine’s sweet bloom
Are fitted to us, and our spirit innate.
They are kinsmen—each century blazing star!
Each snowclad summit, each rose-flushed peak
Have most subtle oneness with us, for afar
Of things sublime and eternal they speak.
With all beautiful things that live, we are one.
We are kin to the circle of nature’s whole.
So, O beautiful trees that stand in the sun,
Your beauty entrancing slips into the soul.
For the children of one great Kinsman above
Are the myriad forms of nature and we.
Kinsman, Creator, He fits our love
To the star and the flower, the bird and the tree.
—Mrs. Merrill E. Gates.
[Illustration: LONG-BILLED CURLEW.
(Numenius longirostris).
⅓ Life-size.
FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES.]
THE LONG-BILLED CURLEW.
(_Numenius longirostris._)
Each day are heard, and almost every hour,
New notes to swell the music of the groves,
And soon the latest of the feathered train
At evening twilight come;—the lonely snipe,
O’er marshy fields, high in the dusky air,
Invisible, but, with faint, tremulous tones,
Hovering or playing o’er the listener’s head.
—Carlos Wilcox, “The Age of Benevolence.”
The Long-billed Curlew is the largest of the American curlews and has a
wide range covering nearly the whole of temperate North America. It is
not a bird of high altitudes and in winter it seeks the milder climate
of the Southern States, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Jamaica. During the
breeding season, which is passed in the South Atlantic States or in the
interior of North America as far north as Manitoba, it is not a social
bird. While migrating, however, and in winter, it enjoys the society of
its fellows and is generally observed in flocks of a greater or less
number.
Mr. Wilson has well described its flight during migration or when
passing from one feeding ground to another. He says, “The Curlews fly
high, generally in a wedge-like form, somewhat resembling certain ducks,
occasionally uttering their loud, whistling note, by a dexterous
imitation of which a whole flock may sometimes be enticed within
gunshot, while the cries of the wounded are sure to detain them until
the gunner has made repeated shots and great havoc among them.”
Though the natural home of the curlews is the muddy shores and grassy
lowlands adjacent to bodies of water the Long-billed species also
frequents drier places at a distance from water, and even breeds in the
uplands. Here their food consists of worms, insects and berries. When
fattened with such food their flesh is tender and lacks the stronger
flavor that is present when they have fed exclusively on the animal food
of the marshes of the sea shore. It is interesting to watch the Curlew
upon the beach as it gracefully moves from point to point in search of
food. Now and then it thrusts its long sensitive bill into the soft soil
and usually draws forth some form of animal food—a larva of some insect,
a crab, a snail or a worm. Frequently it will explore the holes of
crawfish and it is often rewarded with a dainty morsel of curlew food.
The Curlew’s bill is very characteristic and especially adapted to the
bird’s habit of probing for food. It is very variable in length and not
infrequently grows to a length of seven or eight inches, and it has been
known to reach a length of nearly nine inches. The upper mandible is
somewhat longer than the under and is provided with a knob at the tip.
The bill is much curved, a characteristic which has given the bird the
names Sickle-bill and Sickle-billed Curlew or Snipe. It was the curved
bill that suggested to Linnaeus the generic name Numenius for the
curlews. It is a Greek word meaning the new moon. The long bill also
suggested to Wilson the specific name longirostris or long-snouted.
Dr. Coues says, “Its voice is sonorous and not at all musical. During
the breeding season, in particular, its harsh cries of alarm resound
when the safety of its nest or young is threatened.”
The Long-billed Curlew spends but little time in home building. Its nest
consists of a layer of grass placed in any suitable saucer shaped hollow
on the ground.
The downy young resemble the adult bird but little. In color they are a
pale brownish yellow modified by a trace of sulphur yellow, the under
parts being somewhat darker. The upper parts are irregularly mottled
with coarse black spots. At this period in the life of this Curlew, the
bill is straight and about one and one-half inches in length.