42 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



CASE 2. 



THE CURLEW. 



Order, LimicolcE. Family, Scolopacidcr. 



This species, probably familiar to most of us, is 

 very widely and plentifully distributed over our 

 islands in localities suitable to its requirements. 

 Those are estuaries of the sea, marshy lands, mud- 

 flats, creeks, and sand-banks from which the tide has 

 ebbed and left uncovered seaweedy rocks. 



In spring the Curlew goes a considerable distance 

 inland to breed, choosing wild moorland tracts and 

 hills. 



The nest, according to Seebohm, " is on the flat 

 and boggy parts of the moor, and not unfrequently 

 placed amongst reeds or rushes." No doubt, too, 

 the nesting -place is often in heather. I know that, 

 although it is not supposed to be a concealed nest, it 

 is an uncommonly hard one to find, as the parents 

 are so artful in putting you off the spot. 



There are generally four large eggs, in shape like 

 a pear — ground-colour, shades of olive-green to buff, 

 blotched with brown, with underlying markings of 

 purplish-grey. 



Now in regard to this bird's call -notes, for it can 

 hardly be said to be gifted with a song, to me they 

 are most fascinating, especially when they are 

 breeding on the moors. Many a time have I stopped 

 to listen to them ; I don't know any bird with 

 such flute-like notes, or one possessed of so plaintive 



