Curlew in South Africa. 21 



as a rule, — or wading, and even swimming, amongst the sea- 

 grass [Zostera) which in smoothly combed out tresses often 

 fringes the water's edge ; or it may also be observed doing 

 a little vol-planing preparatory to settling upon some part of 

 the beach, where they live as tide-waiters. Indeed, whilst in 

 South Africa, their meal-hours are a sort of "moving-feast," 

 and with the accuracy of an almanack return is timed to the 

 ebbing surf from excursions up the rivers or out upon the 

 veld, where flies and other insects, not savouring of salt, are 

 snapped up for a change. 



We have seen them in flocks, a mile or more away from 

 the shore, at spots where the soil is loose, and worm-casts 

 just after rain are as crowded as scale-insects sometimes are 

 on an orange ; but the marine Crustacea, worms, and jetsam 

 of the waves were their principal food whilst here, and impart 

 that fishy flavour which may account for the repugnance to 

 its table-qualities many persons brought up in this Colony 

 are supposed to entertain. We daresay there is, too, in this 

 the germ of a rooted superstition, as the bird is now and then 

 alluded to amongst the coastal population as one of the 

 uncanny kinds, darkly capable of spell-casting " Umtagati." 

 It is a fact that in the West of Scotland the Curlew used to 

 be forbidden meat, the breaker of this convention being 

 uneasily regarded in his district as " the man who ate the 

 Curlew " ; and its Scotch name of " Whaup " seems derived 

 from a vulture-beaked goblin that dragged its victims through 

 the eaves of their houses. Significant, too, was the prayer 

 of some generations ago to be " delivered from ghaists and 

 lang-nebbit things" — that is, from creatures with long 

 noses capable of poking deeply in o'ther people's affairs. 

 But the man who eats Curlew in Europe tastes something 

 worth risking a little for, because that bird in the north, 

 being chiefly a vegetarian and fresh-water feeder, can be 

 relished as much as any fat Woodcock. Sportsmen are well 

 pleased to have a few included in their bag, and the only 

 disappointment is upon finding the Curlew's bulk is not so 

 much as might be expected. 



It is a drab-coloured bird with dark brown streaks on 



