CURLEWS 207 



and May-bird, from the season of its regular appear- 

 ance in spring. It is a spring and autumn migrant. 



According to W, Dunbar [Ibis, 1865, p. 435), a 

 few pairs remain to breed in Sutherlandshire and 

 Caithness, but no direct evidence of this has been 

 furnished. See Harvie-Brown, Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. 

 Glasgoiv, 1875, p. Ill, and "Fauna of Sutherland 

 and Caithness," p. 225 ; and E. J. Booth, " Cata- 

 logue of Birds," 1896, p. 26. 



In the Outer Hebrides the Whimbrel is be- 

 lieved to have nested on North Ronay in June 1885 

 ("Fauna O, Hebrides," p. 137), but the nearest point 

 at which it is known to breed with certainty is on 

 one of the southern isles of Orkney. Faroe and Ice- 

 land are the headquarters of this species in Western 

 Europe. 



Although seldom met with in Great Britain 

 except in spring and autumn, when on migration 

 to and from its breeding haunts, the Whimbrel has 

 been occasionally observed in winter (Ann. Scot. 

 Nat. Hist., 1899, p. 113). 



The weight of an adult bird is 16 oz. 



Oeder IX. HERODIONES 



Fam. TANTALID^. 



GLOSSY IBIS. Ibis falcinellus, Linnaeus. PI. 24, fig. 2. 

 Length, 22 in. ; bill, 5 in. ; wing, 10'5 in. ; tarsus, 4 in. 



When the Rev. Richard Lubbock, in 1845, 

 published his " Fauna of Norfolk," he wrote of this 



