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July, ?9oo I ' THE CONDOR 79 Notes on the Lono-billed Curlew BY P. M. SILI, OXVAY? LI?;?,VISTON, MONT. [Read before the Northern Division of the Cooper Orn. Club, July 7, ?9 .] PON taking up my residence in the region of central Montana, I was attracted by the Long-billed Cur- lew, (Arumcnius lon?irostris.) It was re- ported to me as being one of the early migrants to appear on the prairie, and in the spring of '99 I eagerly waited for an introduction to this bird uew to my avian list. However, the spring being unusually backward, it was near even- ing on the 24th of April when I wel- comed the first curlews of the season. Two birds flew over, uttering loud, long- drawn whistles, and I knew that the curlews had come. Though the season of ?9oo was as much earlier as the preceding season was backward, I failed to see curlews uutil April 25. I had been repeatedly informed by the natives, however, that the curlews were around, and it is safe to say that the middle of April, t9oo, saw these birds represented on the prairies. After their arrival, the curlews in- habit the high, dry prairies, flying rest- lessly from one portion to another, showing a tendency to associate in pairs, though as couples, these birds are not inseparable. In the mating season, one of the pair is likely to fol- low the other in a few moments, when the first bird has flown far over the prairie to a more distant station, At any time the loud, prolonged whistling of these birds, either when on the ground or a-wing, will call attention to their movements, warning the disturber of their domain that his presence is known and that his actions will be watched with the cl()sest interest. One of the pleasing sights to the ornithologist in watching the t)ehavior of these curlews is seen when a pair are sailing upward in company a-breast of the wind, moving in perfect accord on wide-spread, motionless pinions curved gently downward, within sev- eral feet of each other, then fluttering downward side by side or one in ad- vance of the other, again to sail up- ward, uttering the characteristic whistles. There is another side to the disposition of the Long-billed Curlew, for this spring I was once startled by an unusually piercing whistle, and look- ing upward, I saw a curlew swooping angrily upon a Ferruginous Rough-leg that had chanted to wander over the claimed donlain of this pair of Arumenii. Time and again the curlew swooped upon the unoffending ?trchibuteo as the latter flapped heavily along the edge of the coulee, and the cliff echoed with the shrill whistles of the angry curlew. On the other hand, the Long-billed Curlews are the victims of petty teas- ing by the longspurs which throng the prairie, I have repeatedly noticed Mc- Cown's I,ongspur, (]qh3,nchophanes mccownii,) flutter up beside a curlew, sailing upward, or attempt to strike the curlew, the latter on such occasions sel- dom giving any attention to the petty annoyance mentioned. About the middle of May, ?9oo, I be- gan to give serious attention to the nid- ification of the curlews. In looking over my authorities for data regarding time of nesting, I found the information quite unsatisfactory, Col. Goss alone giving the time, early May, for Kansas. If they nest in early May in Kansas, these birds would nest toward the latter part of May in Montana, I reasoned; but this season being unusually early, the cnrlews should be nesting by the middle of the month, I conclmled. Fearful that (3nly eggs with blood, bones and feathers, if eggs at all, were to be my portion, I spent much of my leisure time thereafter in tifflowing up the curlews, sadly neglecting other ooh)gical iuterests in the meantime. ()n May t8 I spent the afternoon in a drizzling rain i.n bootless quest of cur-