2,30 NUMENIUS ARQUATA. 



birds, for these are the males ; and at this season you will 

 find them fully as shy as they were in winter on the sea- 

 shore. Some weeks hence, when the young are abroad, the 

 females, and even the males, will flutter around you, if you 

 approach the spot where their unfledged brood lie concealed 

 among the herbage, and will attempt, by feigning distress, 

 to lead you into a vain pursuit. Like all the other birds of 

 this genus, the young are covered with long, stirhsh down, 

 and run about presently after exclusion from the egg, squat- 

 ting to conceal themselves from their enemies. Up to the 

 age of three weeks they are still unfeathered ; their forehead, 

 throat, and under surface yellowish-grey ; their upper parts 

 of the same colour with patches of dark brown ; the bill not 

 longer than the head. That organ gradually elongates as 

 the feathers spread, and by the end of about seven weeks 

 they are able to fly. 



At this season old and young feed on insects, larva?, and 

 worms. The latter are very fat, but the former are not in 

 good condition until the middle of autumn : about which 

 period the Curlews unite into small flocks, gradually dis- 

 perse, and betake themselves to the shores. Their flesh is 

 delicate and well-flavoured, and they are not unfrequently 

 to be seen in our markets. I am not aware of any difference 

 produced in the quality of their flesh as an article of food by 

 their change of residence. 



Montagu has given, in the Supplement to his Ornitho- 

 logical Dictionary, an account of a tame bird of this spe- 

 cies : — " One that was shot in the wing was turned amongst 

 aquatic birds, and was at first so extremely shy, that he was 

 obliged to be crammed with meat for a day or two, when he 

 began to eat worms ; but as this was precarious food, he was 

 tempted to eat bread and milk like Ruffs. To induce this 

 substitution worms were put into a mess of bread mixed 

 with milk, and it was curious to observe how cautiously he 

 avoided the mixture, by carrying every Avorm to the pond, 

 and well washing it previously to swallowing. In the course 

 of a few days this new diet did not appear unpalatable to 

 him, and in little more than a week he became partial to it ; 

 and from being exceedingly poor and emaciated, got plump 



