CHAPTER LVII. 



THE CURLEW. 



(Numenius arquata.J 



" The corlew lyvetli by kynde of tlie eyr 

 Most clenuest flesh of bh'ddes." 



Piers' Plouhman's Vision. 



These Ijirds sometimes afford the wild-fowl shooter good sport, but 

 they are extremely shy : he who would get within range of a 

 herd of curlews by daylight must be a cunning sportsman. They 

 are, besides, very watchful : other water-fowl seek their society 

 because they are such excellent sentinels. The smallest suspicion 

 will excite alarm in the curlew, and cause it to rise in the air with a 

 loud shrill whistle, encouraging all its companions to follow. 



Curlews differ so much in size and length of beak, that it is sup- 

 posed age has a great deal to do with this discrepancy, and that the 

 older the bird the larger it is ; but not being prepared to assert this 

 positively, I leave it to naturalists to determine : certain it is, that 

 as a distinct species the common curlew is found in a greater variety 

 of sizes than any other fen-bird. In further support of my humble 

 opinion, as to increasing in size according to age, it may be added 

 that the larger the birds the more wary they are, and the more 

 clamorous. 



It is not very difficult for a good mimic to imitate the note of the 

 curlew with such good effect as to attract a straggler within gun- 

 shot : but the art is seldom successfully practised upon more than 

 one or two birds. I have seen the mimicry so exactly performed as 

 to induce a curlew to run many hundred yards on the mud and 

 marshes in search of its supposed call-mate, until a shot from behind 

 a bank or bush has cruelly settled the deluded victim. They some- 

 times take wing and fly round and round in the direction of the false 



