COMMON CURLEW. 225 
years ago at Burton, and another, killed on the Dee 
Estuary, was seen by Dr. Dobie when in the hands of 
a Chester taxidermist.! 
COMMON CURLEW. 
NUMENIUS ARQUATA (Linneus). 
At all seasons of the year the Curlew may be seen 
feeding on the sandbanks and mudflats of the estuaries 
of the Dee and Mersey, being present in the largest 
numbers from the end of summer until March, when 
the majority leave for their breeding quarters. Even 
in the middle of May, when the breeding season is at its 
height, we have seen considerable numbers of immature 
and non-breeding birds on the saltings and sandbanks ; 
whilst in winter we have observed flocks, generally 
comprising from fifty to a hundred birds, scattered all 
over the miles of banks exposed at low tide. 
A fair number of Curlews breed on the Longdendale 
moors and in some parts of the highlands east of 
Macclesfield, whilst in some places, such as Shuttlings 
Low and the neighbourhood of the Cat and Fiddle, 
they are even plentiful. When the birds are pairing, 
they lose to some extent their habitual wariness, and 
become a prominent feature in the bird-life of the 
moorlands. It is then easy to approach them, as they 
rise to a height of about forty feet above the heather 
and sail with outstretched wings, uttering their curious 
bubbling cry; but when the eggs are laid, the birds 
usually leave the vicinity of the nest at the slightest 
alarm. When the young are hatched, parental affec- 
tion overcomes caution, and the old birds are loth to 
1 Dobie, op. cit. p. 340. 
B 
