253 



NUMENIUS PHAEOPUS. THE WHIMBREL 

 CURLEW. 



WHIMBREL. LITTLE CURLEW. TAXG WHAAP. MAYFOWL. HALF-CURLEW. 

 CURLEW-JACK. 



Scolopax Phoeopus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 243. 



Xnmenius Phaeopus. Lath. Ind. Ornith. II. 711. 



"Whimbrel. Mont. Ornith. Diet. 



Courlis Corlieu. Numenius Phaeopus. Temm. Man. d'Ornith. II. 604. 



"Whimbrel Curlew. Nurnenius Phaeopus. Selby, Illustr. II. 6.3. 



Numaenius Phaeopus. Bonap. Comp. List, 49. 



Length from nineteen to sixteen inches ; bill little more 

 than three inches. Upper part of the head dark-brown, with 

 a medial and tico lateral whitish bands, streaked with dusky ; 

 neck all round pale brownish-grey, streaked icith brown; 

 feathers of the fore part of the back, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts, dusky, xcith marginal whitish spots ; hind part of 

 back white, tail and coverts greyish-white barred with dusky ; 

 chin, hind j)art of breast, and abdomen white ; fore part of 

 breast streaked, sides and lower wing-coverts barred with 

 dusky. 



Male. — The Whimbrel, or Little Curlew, although much 

 inferior in size to the other British species, is very similar 

 not only in form, but in colouring. Its body is ovate, and 

 rather full ; the neck long ; the head rather small, oblong, 

 and rounded above. The bill is twice the length of the head, 

 slender, considerably arcuate, tapering, blunt, with the tip 

 of the upper mandible extending a little beyond that of the 

 lower, which at the base is a little wider than the upper. 

 The nostrils are linear, pervious, sub-basal ; the eyes rather 

 small ; the aperture of the ear large. The legs are long and 

 slender ; the bare part of the tibia reticulated ; the tarsus 

 also reticulated, but with anterior scutella in the lower two- 



