Plate CCVIII. Male and Female.
Bill half as long again as the head, slender, brownish-black, the
lower mandible flesh-coloured at the base; upper part of head
brownish-black, streaked with pale yellowish-brown, and having an
indistinct central and two lateral lines of whitish; upper parts
brownish-black, marked with numerous spots of light brownish-yellow,
there being several along the margin of each feather; wing-coverts and
secondaries of a lighter tint, similarly spotted; alula, primary
quills, and coverts, dark brown, the shaft of the first quill white,
of the rest brown; inner webs not barred as in _N. Hudsonicus_; tail
barred with light greyish-brown and dark brown; sides of head and neck
all round pale yellowish-grey, striped with dark brown; breast and
sides greyish-yellow, with longitudinal and transverse dark markings;
lower wing-coverts and tail-coverts similarly barred, axillars of a
rufous buffy tint, regularly banded.
_Male_, 14-1/2, 27-3/8.
Passes in spring from Texas along the coast eastward to the Fur
Countries, returning in autumn. Abundant at times in the Middle
Atlantic Districts. Rarely seen in the interior. Breeds in the
northern barren grounds.
Numenius borealis, Bonap. Syn. p. 314.
Numenius borealis, Esquimaux Curlew, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor.
Amer. v. ii. p. 378.
Esquimaux Curlew, Numenius borealis, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 101.
Esquimaux Curlew, Numenius borealis, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii.
p. 69; v. v. p. 590.