237 



GENUS NUMENIUS. 

 WHIMBREL. 



NuMENius PH.EOPrs (Liniifeus). 



Local Navies — May-hird, Caiictr-Jiilp, Cniiew-icliUp, 

 Cinieir-irhclp. 



The " Ciirley-hilps " mentioned by Dr. Leigh as 

 sometimes being on " the smaller Martin Meer in great 

 numbers " (see p. 140), no doubt mean Whimbrels, and 

 the name, with slight variations, is still used on the 

 Kibble and Wyre, and most probably is to be interpreted 

 as a little Curlew, or a " whelp " off a Curlew. Young 

 Whimbrels are seen on passage in September and 

 October, and occasionally a few birds may remain the 

 winter ; but at both seasons the species is rare, and it 

 is during the vernal migration only that it becomes 

 common, considerable flocks appearing along the coast 

 in May, and the regularity of their visits providing it 

 with another of its local names. The Whimbrel some- 

 times alights on the moors in autumn, and a corre- 

 spondent of the Field of September 2, 1871, says that 

 in the previous week he shot a female out of two birds 

 which he came across on Stansfield Moor, near 

 Todmorden ; in September 1883, also, Mr, Jon. Dean 

 got one on the hills above Eossendale. Li the spring it 

 frequents the pastures near the coast on its first arrival, 

 afterwards gravitating towards the sand-banks and the 

 sea-edge, and Mr. C. S. Gregson {Xat. Scrap Book, 

 pt. 4) has known it to remain very late on some of the 

 mosses, though he is certainly in error in thinking it 

 sometimes breeds. 



