224 OUR RARER BIRDS 



disturbed they often run forward with expanded wings for a 

 few yards, then rise into the air and fly away, the flock 

 usually assuming the form of a wedge. Perhaps they go for 

 half a mile or more across the sea, or settle on some low 

 muddy island. The low-lying coast of Lincolnshire between 

 Skegness and the Wash is a favourite haunt of these birds, 

 and their wild notes are the commonest we hear sounding 

 over the seemingly interminable wastes of sand and mud. 

 The Curlew in smaller numbers also frequents the rocky 

 coasts if the beach is uncovered at low water. I have seen 

 them pretty numerous near the little fishing village of 

 Flamborough, during the time of high water frequenting the 

 neighbouring pastures, where a few Whimbrels might generally 

 be seen in their company. At night time too the Curlews 

 are particularly lively birds, and I often listen to their wild 

 mournful note, now loud and shrill, anon faint and musical, 

 when they are my only company. To a stranger this note 

 would sound alarming indeed, and I can well understand the 

 Highlander's dislike to these birds — an antipathy so great as 

 to cause him to remember the Curlew in his prayers, and seek 

 expressly to be saved from "all lang-nebbit things." Yet 

 the man must have no poetry in his soul who cannot 

 listen to the w^ail of the Curlew with feelings of delight, be 

 it heard on the lonely moor at dusk, or on the tide-washed 

 flats when the moon is tipping the crests of the waves with 

 silver sheen, and the night wind brings it from all quarters 

 of the sky. 



The food of the Curlew differs slightly, according to the 

 haunt which the birds frequent. In summer on the moor- 

 lands insects and worms are the bird's chief food, together 

 with snails, much as is the case with the Snipe — its long beak 

 being used to probe into the soft soil of the bogs and marshes 

 and sands. I have known the Curlew feed at this season on 

 eround fruits and the tender shoots of herbage. On the 



