COMMON CURLEW. 



LIMICOL.F.. 



499 

 SCOLOPACIDJl. 



-^- 



-_-\W< 



NuMEXius ARQUATA (Linnseus*). 

 THE COMMON CUELEW. 



N^umoiius arqnata. 



NuMENius, Brissonf. — Beak long, slender, and decurved to the point, which 

 is hard ; upper mandible rather longer than the lower, rounded near the end and 

 grooved along three-fourths of its whole length. Nostrils lateral,' linear, pierced 

 in the groove. Legs rather long, slender ; tibia partly naked ; three toes in 

 front, unitsd by a membrane as far as the first articulation ; one toe behind 

 articulated upon the tarsus, and touching the ground. Wings moderate, the 

 first quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



The Curlew is so common a bird as to be well known 

 on almost every part of our coast, where it obtains a living 



* Scolopax Arquata, Linnjeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 242 (1766). 

 + Ornithologie, v. p. 311 (1760) : from vtos new, and fit']Vfi. moon : /. e. 

 crescent-shaped, like the new moon. 



