ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. •
NUMENIUS BOUKBLLiS. ■
Plate XXVI. Fig. 3. •
Numenius borealis, Lath. Ind. I I , p. 712, sp.: 9, (not of Ord, which is N. hudsonicits.)
Nob. Obs. W ih. Om. notes. Id. Cat. and Syn. birds U. S. sp. 344. Id; Monogr.
Num. »'.Outre. Cue. R'egn. Jin. I d. Sp. comp. Bom. P h il sp. P h il 187-.'
Scolopax borealis, F orst. P h il Tram. LXII, p'. 431, (not of*'Gna«l.' &c.'which ™
. Numenim hudsonims.') ■ -
Numenim brevirostris, L ic h t . Cal. I I , Yog. p . -75, sp. 774. T rmm. pl.cpl.-381» •’
Numenim cinereus, Seaside lesser Curlew, B a r t r . Trdv. p. 292. ;
Courlis demi-bec, T-emm. lot. cit.
Chorlito champetre? Azara, IV , p. 2"75,'sp. 3Q7i*
Esquimaux Curlew, Lath. Gen. Syn. V , p> 125.’ - L athTGen. Hist. IX , p. 180, sp.- iW.
F orster, loc. cit. riot of Pennant, which is N. hudsonims.
American Museum at New York.
• • In Wilson’s standard Work are described bat two speeies of
Curlew, and no more than this are. givenby Temminck in his
very complete add excellent European Ornithology.'. We have-
brought forward three North American and three European
species, which, contrary to the generally received opinion, afe all
distinct from each other, and different in both continents, not one
being found in Europe that is also an inhabitant of America.
These facts',"‘independent of any reference to the almost interminable
confusion pervading the works of preceding authors, will
sufficiently justify uS in repeating here and stating with more
details what we have published in our Monography; in which, if*
no neW species be- introduCill, (and the list is already' too long,)
we hope to have placed the old ones in a neW'.^nd more advantageous
light.
Perhaps no ..genus ©f^birds haS,(beeto less- accurately studied,
and notwithstanding that k fsaeedingly natural, it has but
very recently keen restricted within its* appropriate limits* The
appellation it bears was first give®.by Brlssom^yet he was far
from assigning its true -boundaries,. In addition ‘to. the Curlews,
he. comprised in Numenius a .lew -other hards,t^the; Taritali. of
Linné,j now forming thé natural family of Tantaliche, an# -divided
into the genera Tantalus and Ibis-, Tjbn true Nymemi had been
muc^ more philosophically classed by Lino# in his extensive
genus«Scohpaa:}; which, tjiofgh not well formed-*, ttas still, with
very-few'.exceptions,' entirely composed of birds belonging to the
natural family Scolopacidse. j.-,Under aR. .circumstances, the upion
of Numenius with Scolqpa'sc. was far more natural.-than- that- with
Tantalidee; and although we make’use, of the n'ana-e,-given by
Brig son-, the credit. p%^stafaj.ishing it- in its present:- acceptation is
due to Lathim, or pérhaps to LUigesPj who, ftl^d .it from extraneous
speoijE&v and w6, with Tem-rdinok, Vieilpt, and others,
' adopt it ■ as wAj find ;|fe. j The spyeies now.’regarded n
form a -very natural group, -beings closely. allied in man®|p%,
colours» and somewhat e.ven’pP size.. Hence they have been
continually-mistaken fop each ,©tlie*„. scronequsly united, or want
tonly multiplied, as will be made aipply apparent by the synonyms
and scientific history of each spceaeg. .
All the spècie^.pLCurlew^ bane,'tb# bill,very.long, slender,
feeble, muchv-Arehf^i^gh'tiyf cffiöapressed, ._alp§ist;.cylindrical,
hard and obtuse at tip* and entire: the upper’ mandiRlei^ longest,
furrowed for, three-fourths of. its length,,rputtded towards the
tip ; the' lower a liule. shorter. The pos.trils are. basal,.lateral,
longitudinal, .linear, being placed in the: fjjrrow»: The. tongue, is
very short, small, and acut&L ;,The face is attenuated, and wholly
feathered. T h e||e et are rather elongated, slender, bare above
the heel; the tarsi cylindrical, half, lpnger. than the middle toe,