176 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



crouching bird. It has a short, straight, lead-blue bill, slate- 

 grey legs, and brown irides. 



The adult bird in summer is streaked on the head, back, and 

 breast with dark brown and buff; the wings and tail are barred 

 with dark and light brown, and the white lower back has a few 

 dusky streaks, whilst on the flanks are sagittate spots. There 

 is a distinct pale eye-streak, and the chin, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts are white with a few dark markings. In winter the 

 colours are paler, and the immature bird is more tawny. The 

 bill is brown, reddish at the base of the under mandible ; 

 the legs are green, and the irides brown. Length, 23 ins. 

 Wing, 12 ins. Tarsus, 3*25 ins. 



Whimbrel. Ninnenius phceopus (Linn.). 



The breeding range of the Whimbrel (Plate -j^^ is more 

 northerly than that of the Curlew ; it extends from Iceland and 

 the Faeroes to north-western Siberia, and its winter range to the 

 Cape. In the Orkneys, Shetlands, and a few of the Outer 

 Hebrides, the Whimbrel is a summer visitor, nesting sparingly, 

 but to most parts of the British Isles it is a regular and common 

 passage migrant. A few non-breeding birds linger through 

 the summer, and occasionally wintering is recorded. 



The Whimbrel is often called the "Jack Curlew," Jack being 

 a diminutive ; it differs from the larger bird in having a shorter, 

 rather less curved bill, and in its much darker crown, which is 

 not brown with narrow streaks, but has two broad brown 

 bands divided by a median narrow buff stripe. "May-bird" 

 is one of its popular names, for its arrival is expected in this 

 month. Though a bird of the shore, the passage, especially 

 in spring, is often overland, and the distinctive rippling or 

 tittering call of the incoming birds may be heard at night in 

 April as well as May. " Titterel " is a name derived from this 

 call, and from the notion that the notes are always uttered 



