146 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



show at once if the bird flies away from the observer ; they are 

 ahnost as striking as the lower back of the House-Martin, 

 immature birds, and the majority that visit us in autumn are 

 immature, have shorter and less curved bills than those which 

 are adult. Even in mature birds the length of the bill varies ; 

 ]\Ir. O. V. Aplin told me that he found bills varying from 1*35 

 to r65 inches. In spring, when the summer dress is often 

 partially attained, there is less difficulty, for it is even redder 

 than the Knot ; indeed, Seebohm calls it a miniature Knot 

 with a long, curved bill. Its haunts are those of the Dunlin 

 and Sanderling — the banks, mud-flats, and saltings. In some 

 seasons very few birds are noticed ; probably the force and 

 direction of wind regulates its eastern or western route. 



The flight of the Curlew-Sandpiper is rapid and strong, more 

 undulating, but less erratic than that of the Dunlin ; yet large 

 flocks will indulge in complicated but well-ordered evolutions. 

 Its call on rising sounds to me like twee, twee, twee, but it is 

 sometimes written wiek-a-wiek j it has also a whistling /^e/^r-r^/, 

 which perhaps is the note said to resemble that of the Dunlin. 

 "When feeding, a flock keeps up a low, rather musical twitter. 

 On the shore it often runs quickly, but at other times is as 

 deliberate as the Dunlin, especially when working the pools at 

 low tide. Marine invertebrates are its food on the shore, but 

 inland it will eat fresh-water molluscs and insects. The tanks 

 in sewage farms attract it more frequently than is generally 

 supposed ; on one farm near Manchester birds were present 

 one autumn for five weeks. Captain A. W. Boyd, who watched 

 the varying numbers, counted nineteen one day, but I was not 

 lucky enough to see so large a party. All those that I saw were 

 buft"-breasted birds of the year. On this same farm Captain 

 Boyd saw a single bird in May. 



In its breeding dress the Curlew-Sandpiper has the upper 

 parts chestnut, variegated with black and grey ; the wing- 

 coverts show white margins, and the wings are ashy grey ; the 



