THE CURLEW 189 



thousands of the Curlew tribe. When they first arrive they 

 are confiding, with a confidence ])orn of an ij:fnorancc of the 

 habits of man, but inroads amongst their ranks are soon 

 made by the shore gunner, and the Whaups become restless 

 and difficult to approach. They obtain their food during 

 this season mainly on the mud flats of river estuaries, but 

 when compelled by the rising tide to beat a retreat they 

 move in flocks a short distance inland, where they feed 

 lazily till it is possible for them to return once more to 

 the shore. They have been observed several miles from 

 the tide to cease feeding in the fields, collect together, 

 and wing their way to the sea at the very moment when 

 the shallows were first exposed. 



An exj^lanation advanced to account for this interest- 

 ing behaviour is that Curlew scouts are stationed within 

 sight of the sea to give notice when first the feeding grounds 

 are left bare. I would rather incline to the belief that the 

 birds' sense of the progress of time is sufficiently accurate 

 for them to feel instinctively when it is possible for them 

 to return to their interrupted meal. During these months 

 of winter the call note is usually a single one — " curlieu " — 

 but at times, and especially if the weather is open and 

 at all suggestive of spring, the birds utter the opening 

 bars of the vibrating song characteristic of the nesting 

 season. At such times the song is never, so far as my 

 experience goes, finished — it is abruptly cut short, as 

 though the singer suddenly realised that his vocal effort 

 was premature, and, indeed, somewhat out of place. The 

 Curlew is quite good eating, especially if it has left the 

 moorlands only recently, but after a prolonged sojourn 

 by the sea its marine diet renders it less sought after. 

 There is an old saying to the effect that, 

 "A Curlew lean, or a Curlew fatj 

 Carries twelve pence on its back." 



It is not everywhere, however, that the Curlew is eaten. 



