236 CURLEW. 



the Shetlanders regard with horror the very idea of using so uncanny 

 a bird as food ; in fact, a visitor who did so was afterwards alluded 

 to, almost in a whisper, as "the man who ate the Whaup." 



The Curlew is very good eating, when young, and before it has 

 had time to feed on the sea-shore, but it soon becomes unpalatable. 

 It was formerly esteemed highly ; in the L'Estrange " Household 

 Book," it appears that a Curlew was worth from five to six pence 

 (and even twelve pence in the Lord North Accounts), the price of 

 three Woodcocks. 



The Curlew is a very shy bird and difficult to approach ; but 

 his presence on the wild moors, and his cries are nevertheless very 

 pleasant to the traveller. 



Thus Hurdis speaks of 



A gentle Curlew bidding kind good-night 

 To the spent villager. 



— Favorite Village. 



The Curlew frequents the coasts through the winter, finding 

 on the sea-shore the small Crustacea, marine insects, worms, etc., 

 which form its food, but in the spring it retires inland, to breed 

 in the retired spots of hilly, marshy districts. 



The clamorous Curlew calls his mate. 



Gilbert White. 



The nest of the Curlew is slight ; a few leaves or other dry 

 materials, carelessly laid among long grass or heath, or in a tuft 

 of rushes, is all that appears. They breed on the wilder moors 

 of the county. Mr. James W. Lloyd exhibited two eggs at the 

 Kimbolton meeting of the Woolhope Club, which had been taken 

 with two others, on May 15th, 1880, from a hill within two miles 

 of the town of Kington. In 1882, a pair of Curlews nested on 

 the adjoming hill, and hatched out the young birds, some of which, 

 however, were killed by shepherd dogs. 



The Curlews breed regularly also on the Black Mountains, 

 and sometimes on the Herefordshire portion of them. They rarely 

 visit the centre of the county, but are still occasionally met with. 

 Mr. Lingwood in his notes says : " very rare, seen in the flesh at 



