2 SCOLOPACLD^. 



The nest is generally more or less well lined with grass, sometimes with a 

 little moss in addition. Much care does not appear to be bestowed upon its 

 concealment, but I have upon occasion seen it very snugly placed in a large tuft 

 of tall grass. As in the case of the Oyster-catcher, different statements are made 

 by authors as to the number of eggs laid by the Curlew, some maintaining it to 

 be three, others four. Mr. Gray, however, throws an unexpected light upon the 

 matter, thus : — ' From Mr. Harvie-Brown's journals I learn that in Sutherlandshire, 

 where the Curlew is local, though common in the districts it frequents, four eggs 

 are almost invariably found in the nest, three being the usual number taken 

 in nests throughout the midland and southern counties (' Birds of the West of 

 Scotland,' p. 288).' In Shetland four is by far the more usual number, a nest 

 with no more than three eggs being merely found now and then. 



" The eggs of the same nest mostly resemble one another in colour and 

 shape, but very singular varieties wHl sometimes occur. I have some which are 

 even longer than the specimen figured by Mr. Hewitson, others no longer than 

 Whimbrel's, from which, however, their greater breadth always distinguishes 

 them. One taken in Yell has the blotches unusually large, and deviates so far 

 from the usual, almost invariable, pyriform shape, that its outline nearly resembles 

 that of an egg of the Herring Gull. Another from the same place is of a very 

 peculiar grayish-brown colour, nearly as dark as a Red-throated Diver's egg, 

 and obscurely spotted with two darker shades of the same tint. The young are 

 difficult to find, and nearly as difficult to overtake, even when only a few 

 hours old." 



I am indebted to Mr. H. S. Davenport for the following extract on the 

 Common Curlew from his " Original Sketches of British Birds," shortly to be 

 published : — " However, if the species is well able to take care of itself as a 

 general rule, it throws off much of its wild nature in the nesting season. In the 

 spring of 1894 I had abundant experience of the breeding economy of the 

 Curlew, and I found no less than half-a-dozen nests, all containing the fuU 

 complement of eggs, in the space of 24 hours. In one instance the old bird 

 kept on flying about Avithin a few yards of me, and once nearly dashed my hat ofi" ; 

 occasionally it varied the entertainment by settling on the ground and progressing 

 leisurely towards me, crying piteously all the time. Needless to say, the eggs 

 were very much incubated and that I did not disturb them 



" Both in 1894 and 1895 I found several nests belonging to this species on 

 the uplands of North Wales ; they were invariably placed on the dry herbage, 

 not in swampy places. The best mode to discover them on a wide, open expanse 

 of ground is to approach very cautiously and keep a good look-out with a pair of 



