132 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Grey Phalarope : the character and colour of the markings are pre- 

 cisely the same, but they may almost invariably be distinguished 

 by their smaller size. 



WILSON'S PHALAKOPE. 

 (Phalaropus loilsoni.) * 

 This American species has occurred but once in England, near 

 Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire. It nests throughout tem- 

 perate North America. The eggs vary from a fawn colour to a 

 rufous-drab, profusely spotted and speckled with shades of rufous- 

 brown, more thickly at the large end. They measure about 135 

 inch in length, and 0'95 inch in breadth. 



THE COMMON CURLEW. 



(Numenius arquatus.) 

 Plate 45, Figs. 4, 5. 



The breeding-grounds of the Curlew are principally confined to 

 the moors and uplands of the north of England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland. It nests sparingly in the wilder districts of Cornwall and 

 Devonshire, is common on the mountains of Wales, but is never 

 known to nest in the low-lying counties of the east and south of 

 England. Its breeding-range extends throughout Northern and 

 Central Europe, including South Russia. 



The nest is very slight and shallow, and about ten inches 

 across; it consists of a little hollow, either one formed naturally 

 or by the birds themselves, lined with a few bits of herbage, a 

 sprig or two of heath, or a few dead leaves or bits of broken rush. 



Four is the full complement of eggs, but instances have been 

 known where five have been found, one of them being doubtless 

 the produce of another female. They vary in ground-colour from 

 dark or light olive-green to brownish-buff, spotted and blotched 

 with olive-brown and dark blackish-brown, and with underlying 

 markings of purplish-grey. The markings are generally distri- 

 buted over the entire surface of the shell, but occasionally they 

 form an irregular zone round the large end ; and sometimes 

 the spots are few in number, large, bold, and unusually rich in 

 colour. Sometimes a few streaky lines of very dark brown, or a 

 * Steganopus tricolor (V.)— Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 202. 



