98 BRITISH BIRDS. 



the Sussex coast, remarks that "■ their daily routiue all the year round 

 consists of half their time on the flats at Goring and the remainder 



on the shingle-banks All through the summer months I have for 



many years watched these birds in the same locality ; there is occasionally 



in winter a slight increase in their numbers The regularity with 



which this species will make its way to the mud-banks on salt-water 

 estuaries or along the open coast-line as soon as the tide has fallen 

 sufficiently to expose its food is well known to all who have watched the 

 habits of these wary birds." Referring to the latter peculiarity, Sir Ralph 

 Payne-Gallwey remarks : — " They are more regular in repairing to their 

 haunts than any other birds ; to the minute they will desert the moors and 

 meadows to leave for the coast. How Curlews can tell from inland fields, 

 far from and out of sight of the tide, the exact moment to make for the 

 shore (as if they carried watches in their pockets) is more than I can 

 even guess at. They will arrive just as the ooze is sufiiciently uncovered 

 for them to get their food whilst wading. I have watched them, several 

 miles from the tide, cease feeding, call to one another, collect, and then 

 point for the sea ; and this, too, at the very moment I knew the shallows 

 must be nearly exposed. Spring-tides they will hit off exactly, never late, 

 always on the sj)ot just as the banks begin to show." The probable expla- 

 nation of this regularity is that they keep scouts within sight of the 

 shore to give the main flock notice when the tide is low enough for them 

 to feed. 



Though they occasionally feed in company with small Waders, their 

 greater wariness leads them generally to associate together in a flock by 

 themselves. The Curlew passes through the air with great speed at a mode- 

 rate height, a flock usually flying in the form of the letter V. As they 

 fly along they often change leaders, and if alarmed wheel and turn in the 

 air for some time ere alighting. No bird that frequents the coast is more 

 wary than the Curlew or more clamorous at the ajDproach of danger, rising 

 into the air at once, making such an uproar as to disturb all the wildfowl 

 feeding near, often to the chagrin of the gunner, who mayhap has been 

 patiently stalking them for hom-s. During the time they are feeding the 

 flock often gets scattered over a considerable area ; but when the alarm- 

 note sounds every bird rises at once, the fluttering mass takes shape as 

 the birds fall into their places, and the thin long lines of birds eventually 

 wing their way to safer quarters. Curlews often feed at night, especially 

 if it be moonlight. The flesh of the Curlew is not unpalatable, especially 

 that of the young, and numbers of birds find their way to the markets 

 for food. 



The adult male Curlew in breeding-plumage has the general colour of 

 the upper parts pale brown, shading into dull white on the wing-coverts, 

 each feather having a dark brown centre, which on the scapulars and inner- 



