THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 163 



A pair generally nestle in a rough strip of waste 

 land within three miles of Carlisle. The nest of 

 the Curlew is a slight depression with a scanty 

 lining, and four eggs constitute a clutch. On the 

 lower grounds, the eggs are generally laid during 

 the latter half of April ; but during the present 

 spring (1885), we examined fresh eggs on Glasson 

 moss in the first half of May, and on the eastern 

 fells we once found a clutch of fresh Curlew eggs 

 at the beginning of June. The nests are more 

 frequently situated on the edge of a moss, or in 

 some rough meadow adjoining, than in the centre 

 of the waste. The young run at the end of May 

 and the beginning of June. From their acuteness 

 in hiding, they are more difficult to find than the 

 nests, but neither can be found, except accidentally, 

 unless the movements of the old Curlews be care- 

 fully studied. Throughout the summer, a few 

 Curlews, apparently non-breeders, may be observed 

 feedinof on the mud flats of our estuaries. In 

 August, large parties of Curlews repair to the salt 

 marshes, performing regular flights to and from 

 their favourite feeding grounds. Mr. Tremble be- 

 lieves that the Curlews which frequent Burgh marsh 

 feed largely on spiders in early autumn. Many 

 Curlews haunt the more open parts of the Solway, 

 and their movements, as they fly to and fro in 

 small parties, probing the mud in all directions, 

 and feeding along the margin of the retiring tide, 

 may be conveniently studied, with a good pair of 

 glasses, from the shelter of a breakwater or a heap 

 of wrecked timber. 



