shorter in proportion to the size of the bird than those
of the Black-tailed Godwit, and' become another mark of
distinction. In the female described, the tarsus measured
but two inches in length, and the naked part of the tibia
above it only one inch, ■
A male, apparently in the perfect plumage' of summer,
killed during the second week of May, 1821, has the' beak
nearly black, reddish-brown at the base ; irides ■ dusky-
brown ; head and neck rich' bay, or chestnut-re'dy t’he feathers
on the forehead, top of the head, and down the back ,of -the
necki streaked longitudinally with black; the space- between
the base of the beak and the eye, and the feathers forming
the ear-coverts, spotted-with black; the upper part of the
back, the shoulders, lesser wing-coverts, and tertials,*'black,
the edges of the feathers-of a pale- reddish-wood' brown;
greater wing-coverts, as1 in winter, dark" brown, edged with
greyish-white ; primary quill-feathers almost black;r those
nearest the secondaries tinged" with* duS%»brown ■ on- the
inner webs, and edged with white ;, -lower part' of the back
white, with a fbwsfbllbfeatbers ~of a dark colour intermixed;
upper tail-coverts- barred with black, on a ground-colour -of
pale reddish-brown; tail-feathers''nearly asykf »winter,, but
the white is tinged with bay;-neck-in front,-breast;-belly,
vent, and under tail’-coverts, nearly uniform rich bay, with a
few dark streaks before the carpal joint of the .'wing:;" legs,
toes, and claws nearly black.
J^UMENIU.S- ARQ.UATA.., /LinnsBusf b , r
THE COMMON GUREEW.
Numen^ugarquata.
! JNumeniuS,; Brisson\ .—Beak, long»,;-slender, and d.ecjLryed tp the point, which
js.hkrd; upper rnandible rather longer than the kjwqr, roqn.de.cl* near tlm end and
grooved along 'three-fourths of its whole length. Nostrils lateral, linear, pierced
ifPtBe'groove. Legs rather long, slender; tibia partly naked*; three toes in
front, united- by a membrane as far as the first .articulationone. toe behind
articulated upon. thg.tarsus, and to.j^bipi? „the ground. Wings moderate, the
firft quill-feather the-long^t in the-^iijgj. ^
The Curlew is so-common a bird as toiWp well known
oh almost* every part of our coast, where it" obtains a living
^Äc^opt^^i^bäfa^finnseus^S^i;. kf^at. Ed.‘"12^ i. p. §42^766)'. ^
- Ornithologie, v. p. 3i3?^(|§56'Qf: : from^eo^-new,' htM'fxrjvrj, moon ! i. e.
orescent-shaped, like the new moon.