226 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
leave their offspring, evincing their anxiety by distress- 
ful cries. Curlews nested annually on Carrington Moss 
prior to its reclamation, and we have often seen birds 
there in the spring. In former years they bred on 
Macclesfield Moss, and probably at Lindow and other 
of the low-lying mosses on the Plain. 
In March we have occasionally seen Curlews flying 
up the Mersey Valley at Sale on their passage from the 
coast to the Hills, our attention being called to the 
birds, high overhead, by their characteristic cry. 
WHIMBREL. 
NUMENIUS PHZOPUS (Linneeus). 
The Whimbrel is a rather scarce visitor to the 
Cheshire coast on the spring and autumn migrations. 
There is a specimen in the Warrington Museum, ob- 
tained at Runcorn in 1852, and another in the Gros- 
venor Museum, Chester. 
Dr. Dobie, who was informed that the Whimbrel is 
often seen in spring in the fields at Sealand, has 
examined an example which was obtained in that 
locality Mr. N. Neave tells us that a Whimbrel was 
caught in a net at Rainow in 1885, at the end of 
November or the beginning of December—a very un- 
usual time of year for the occurrence of this species. 
Mr. J. H. Salter, who confirms Mr. Neave’s identifica- 
tion, says he well remembers examining the skin, which 
has unfortunately been destroyed. 
1 Dobie, op. cit. p. 341. 
