SCOLOPACID.'E. 



6ii 





THE COMMON CURLEW. 



NuMENius ARQUATA (Linnasus). 



Wherever sand and mud-flats or rocks covered with sea-weed are 

 left bare by the receding tide, there the Curlew is to be found 

 during the entire year ; for even in spring, when the adults retire 

 inland, their places are taken by immature birds which remain 

 during the summer. It still breeds on the moors of Cornwall, 

 Devon and Somerset, sparingly in Dorset, Wilts and Hants, freely 

 in AVales and the neighbouring counties, and on the high ground 

 northwards (including the Isle of Man) as far as the Uorder, while 

 we also find it on low-lying heaths, such as Thorne AN'aste in Lincoln- 

 shire. It is even more generally distributed over the mainland of 

 Scotland, as well as in the Orkneys and Shctlands, but is not 

 positively known to nest in the Outer Hebrides, though it occurs 

 there in winter. In Ireland it is common throughout the year. 



The Curlew is only a straggler to the Fceroes and Iceland, where 

 it is represented in summer by the Wliimbrel ; but it breeds more 

 or less plentifully in 8candina\ia, Russia, Poland, North (".ermany. 



