THE CURLEW 
the lower ground in autumn, and continuing thereon 
for the remainder of the time. It 1s most regular in its 
movements, passing from the saltings as the tide drives it 
away to higher ground inland, but returning almost to 
the minute as the ebbing water exposes its feeding-places. 
It runs and walks about in the usual manner of its kind, 
flies well and powerfully, and is noisy enough, especially 
when fired at or otherwise seriously alarmed. Its note is 
a rich, musical cur lee, ofttimes repeated, and during the 
breeding season it utters a bubbling cry resembling 
wiw-1-wiw-t-wiw, very quickly repeated. It is more or 
less gregarious during the non-breeding season, and in 
summer several pairs “will nest on a comparatively small 
area of suitable ground. The food of the Curlew consists 
of worms, insects, and larve, small ground fruits and 
berries, sand-worms, molluscs and crustaceans. ‘The 
return from the coast begins in March, and the eggs are 
laid in April and May. ‘The nest is made upon the 
ground, either on the moors, rough lands, or upland 
fallows, and is little more than a hollow, scantily lined 
with a few bits of dry herbage, and in some cases the bare 
ground alone is used. ‘The four eggs are pyriform in 
shape, olive-green or buff in ground colour, blotched and 
spotted with olive-brown and grey, and sometimes 
streaked with darker brown. But one brood is reared 
in the season. 
The adult male Curlew has the general colour of the 
upper parts pale brown striped and mottled with dark 
brown ; the rump is white; the shortest upper tail- 
coverts are white streaked with dark brown, the longest 
are very pale buffish brown barred with dark brown ; 
the quills are dark brown barred with white ; the wing 
coverts greyish white, with dark brown centres ; the four 
central tail-feathers are pale brown, barred with dark 
brown, the four outer ones on either side white barred 
with dark brown; the under parts are white, suffused 
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