CURLEW. 175 



to the titter of the Whimbrel, and the other a savage bark of 

 anger as the bird flies and sometimes hovers overhead. 



The fiight of the Curlew is more gull-like than that of most 

 waders ; it rises rather heavily, but is quick on the wing, 

 though its slow and measured beats do not suggest speed. 

 Flocks, especially when travelling for a distance, adopt the 

 chevron formation or fly in well-ordered lines. The bird has 

 been met with far out at sea, but as it can swim well it 

 would have no difficulty in taking rest. Mr. L. N. Brooke 

 saw one flying with a party of Wigeon, and twice Avhen the 

 ducks settled it also alighted and swam with them, picking up 

 some food from the surface of the water. On the coast the 

 bird feeds with the tide, either by day or night ; when on a 

 boat at anchor ofif a muddy estuary, I heard the birds calling, 

 bubbling, and, judging by the barking cries, quarrelling all 

 night long. The sickle-shaped bill can be thrust into the 

 mud, but often the bird delicately picks up a mollusc or other 

 animal, jerks its head, and so passes the food up to the gape. 

 On the moors insects and worms are eaten, and berries — 

 blackberry, whimberry, and crowberry, for instance — are 

 appreciated. 



Occasionally the Curlew nests on a low-lying heath, or in the 

 upland pastures, but its true home is " the tops," where cotton- 

 grass, crowberry, and stunted ling crop out amongst the 

 sphagnum. The nest, often a mere apology, is placed amongst 

 the tussocks (Plate 70), and the three or four large eggs 

 (Plate 57) brooded in April and May. The bird on guard, 

 after warning its mate with a loud coiir-lieu, will run towards 

 a man, when the young are hatched, and strive to draw him 

 from the danger zone, but a passing Raven, gull, or hawk is 

 fiercely assaulted and driven away with angry barks. The 

 down of the nestling, pale brownish white, mottled with 

 chestnut and a few rich brown blotches (Plate 7:2), is incon- 

 spicuous in certain surroundings, but does not always hide the 



