THE COMMON CURLEW. 259 



solitary dreariness of the scene, that the wild cry of the 

 Curlew, so much in accordance with all around me, has not 

 come like the voice of a companion to my ear, and produced 

 a delightful feeling of gratitude to that Being who has thus 

 adorned with life and beauty the most sterile and least 

 interesting of His works ; and I have thought how great 

 would be the void in the creation were we deprived of this 

 one branch of His glorious productions." ^ 



In the solitudes of the Lammermuirs the cries of the 

 various birds which are found there — the oft-repeated 

 " Peese-weep " of the Lapwing, the " Cok, cok, cok " of 

 the Grouse, and the plaintive whistle of the Golden Plover 

 — are drowned by the clamour of the Whaup when the 

 wanderer intrudes upon its domain, reminding one of the 

 lines of Leyden : — 



How wild and harsh the moorland music floats. 



When clamorous Curlew scream with long-drawn notes. 



Mr. Hardy in his MS. Notes says : " At Penmanshiel 

 Curlews call about six o'clock in the evening and carry 

 on much later. Their first note is like " Powit, powit," 

 quickly pronounced — usually twice. When sailing or 

 rising up and down it is " Powit," slowly repeated, or the 

 repetition of " Pooit-po-oit, po-oit." 



In Berwickshire and in other counties of Scotland this 

 bird is called the " Whaap." This seems to be an ancient 

 name, for we find the Scottish Parliament in the time of 

 Queen Mary (1551) enacting "that the wylde-meit and 

 tame meit underwritten, be said in all tymes cumming of 

 the prices following : — the Quhaip, vl. d." Jamieson in his 

 Scottish Dictionary gives " Quhaip, Quhaup, Whaap," as sig- 

 nifying a Curlew, and he also gives " Quhaip, Quhaup," as 



1 Eggs of British Birds, vol. ii. p. 322. 



