ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 99 



fluenced by the same cause to linger behind, or wander 

 from the rest, I am unable to say. 



The young of the common Curlew of Europe {N. ar- 

 quata,) run as soon as they are hatched, but cannot fly 

 for a considerable time. Mr. Rennie succeeded in taming 

 one which had been shot in the wing. At first it was ex- 

 tremely shy, but, at length, fed with some domestic Ruffs, 

 on bread and milk, with which it soon became fat. In a 

 month or six weeks, it was tame enough to follow a person 

 across the menagerie for a bit of bread, or a small fish, of 

 which it was remarkably fond ; besides this diet, he fed on 

 water lizards, small frogs, and every kind of insect not too 

 large to swallow ; and, in defect of other food, he contented 

 himself to eat barley with the ducks. This bird survived 

 with this treatment for two years, when he was at last killed, 

 as was supposed, by a rat. 



The note of the Whimbrel, so nearly allied to the present 

 species, is said to sound like the words ^wedchj tctty tetty 

 tetty tet, quickly repeated. 



The Esquimaux Curlew is about 18 inches long ; and 32 inches in 

 alar extent. The bill to the rictus (in Richardson's specimen) is 3 

 inches 6 lines ; in Wilson's 4^ inches ! in a specimen now before 

 me 3 inches 8 lines. In a young, but very full grown bird of Sep- 

 tember, the bill, remarkably slender, scarcely exceeds 2 inches ! (In 

 Wilson's bird the extraordinary curvature of the bill is no less re- 

 markable than its unusual length.) its color in our specimens, brown- 

 ish black, towards the base of the under mandible purplish flesh- 

 color, straight almost for two thirds of its length, and then rather 

 suddenly curving. Upper part of the head dusky brown, divided 

 by an obscure stripe of whitish ; over each eye extends a broad 

 paler line. Iris dark hazel. Sides of the head, neck, and breast, dull 

 yellowish white, with narrow stripes (passing into bars on the breast) 

 of pale dusky brown. Chin, belly, and under tail coverts white, 

 the latter more or less tinged with buff. Upper plumage, as well as 

 the rump and lores, dusky brown, with brownish-white marginal 

 spots, which become bars on the lesser quills and tail coverts. Pri- 



