THE CURLEW 183 



were concealed led us to believe, by their interesting 

 behaviour, that they had decided to nest near. The 

 hen — distinguished by her larger size and darker plumage 

 — was feeding not far from us when her mate appeared 

 on the scene. He seemed to be considerably annoyed 

 that she was not looking after her nest, for he pursued 

 her energetically backwards and forwards, endeavouring 

 to implant upon her person pecks from his long and sharp 

 bill. It was on the following day that we discovered the 

 nest. For quite a considerable time we watched a Curlew 

 feed among the wet grass land, and then, to our surprise, 

 she stopped suddenly and sat down so that only her head, 

 with its long curved bill, was visible. The nest was untidy, 

 and the eggs, two in number, had been partially hidden 

 by grass placed over them by the parent bird. We re- 

 treated once more, but it was some time before the bird 

 returned to her nest. She walked sedately amongst the 

 long grass, and once surprised and interested the writer 

 by uttering the vibrating song heard only during the 

 nesting, while she was standing on the ground ! A rock 

 lay on the moorland near the nest, and on to it she climbed, 

 falling sound asleep with her head half under her wing. 

 At times we could see one eye open, and she would lazily 

 stretch herself before dozing off once more. At length 

 she went back to her nest, and, as though to keep her 

 company, a Golden Plover arrived and mounted guard on 

 a knoll a few feet from her, before he flew off to look after 

 his own household affairs. 



That same afternoon we made an expedition to the 

 high moorlands, and, as I mentioned above, found two 

 more Curlews' nests, each containing two eggs. Though 

 the full clutch had not been laid, the hen bird in each 

 instance was sitting fairly close, and when flushed circled 

 round us, uttering her shrill notes of alarm. One of the 

 nests was placed in very boggy ground — and, indeed, I 



