282 NIGHT HERON.
cream-colour; breast and abdomen white, similarly tinged. Wings,
rump, and tail, light greyish-blue, tinged with lilac.
Length to end of tail 25T
7
2 inches, to end of wings 25] §, to end of
claws ; extent of wings 44; wing from flexure 13f; tail 5; bill
along the ridge 32
, along the edge of lower mandible 4T
Ï Ï T
2
2 ; bare part of
tibia 1£ ; tarsus 3£ ; middle toe 3, its claw ^J. Weight 1 lb. 14 oz.
Young after first moult. Plate CCXXXVI. Fig. 2.
Bill and bare space about the eye yellowish-green, the ridge of the
upper mandible, and part of the lower towards the end, black. Iris
bright red. Feet pale greenish-yellow. At this period the occipital feathers
are not developed. The general colour of the upper parts is light
greyish-brown, the edges of the feathers paler; that of the lower parts
dull white, tinged with grey and cream colour, with the central part of
each feather greyish-brown ; the feathers of the back and wings, as well
as the secondary quills, have a long triangular spot of brownish-white at
the end; the rump and tail more tinged with bluish-grey.
The Adult Female resembles the Male.
AMARYLLIS ATAMASCO, Willd. Sp. PL vol. ii. p. 51. Pursh, Flora Amer. Sept. vol. L
p. 222.
This species, which grows in swamps, and moist woods, in Virginia
and Carolina, is characterized by having an acute bifid spatha, an erect
funnel-shaped corolla of a pale rose-colour or pure white, with a short
tube at the base, the segments nearly equal, as are the decimate stamens.
It flowers in June and July, and attains a height of from eight inches to
a foot.
( 283 )
THE HUDSONIAN CURLEW.
, NUMENIUS HUBSONICUS, LATH.
PLATE CCXXXVI I. MALE. '
THE habits of this species, which until a few years ago was always
confounded with the Esquimaux Curlew, Numenius borealis, are yet in a
great measure unknown. Every person who writes on American birds
repeats, that it arrives at Hudson's Bay, breeds farther north, &c.; but
none has yet given any of those details so necessary to enable the student
of nature to judge in what respects this species resembles, or differs
from others, at the season of reproduction. During my visit to Labrador,
1 made diligent inquiry respecting it and the Esquimaux Curlew,
but I obtained no information farther than that the latter is extremely
abundant for a few weeks in early autumn, and that the present species
was entirely unknown. Even Mr JONES and his sons, who had probably
killed thousands of the species just mentioned, had never seen it in the
course of their long residence at Bras d'Or. Nor is our information respecting
their winter retreats much better, for scarcely any of them are
ever seen in the colder months within the limits of the United States, and
their movements during their migrations are more rapid than those of
most water birds. In short, I am unable to present you with such an account
of them as I could have wished.
I have found this species abundant on the shores of New Jersey in
the month of May, and there they remain a few weeks. I once saw a
large flock of them near Charleston, in the month of December, and I
have found them in the Boston market in September. None were ever seen
by me in any part of the interior, where, indeed, it is probable they very
seldom make their appearance. As I have nothing of any importance to
add, I shall present you with a few extracts, from WILSON and NUTTALL,
both of whom have had opportunities of observing this species.
" The Short-billed Curlew," says the former, " arrives in large flocks
on the sea-coast of New Jersey early in May, from the south, frequents
the salt-marshes, muddy shores, and inlets, feeding on small worms and
minute shell-fish. They are most commonly seen on mud-flats at low
water, in company with various other waders; and at high water roam