250 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



generally very wilcl^ and have always a sentinel on the 

 watch, whose voice is so loud that he gives notice to all the 

 birds on the shore ; and it is seldom that a shot can be 

 obtained except by the most careful manoeuvring. It is, 

 however, worth some trouble, as the flesh is exceedingly 

 good and fetches a high price in the market. 



Willughby mentions that in Suffolk there is a proverb : — 



" A Curlew, be she white or be she black, 

 She carries twelve pence on her back " ; 



and it is one of the luxuries mentioned in the ^Northum- 

 berland Household Book ': — " Item, Kyrlewes to behadde for 

 my Lord^s owne Mees at Principall Feestes, and to be at 

 xii'' a pece.''^ 



They feed greatly on cockles and on mussels, Crustacea, 

 and small shelled snails, especially Helix ericetomm. As 

 soon as the rocks begin to show above water a long line of 

 these birds may be seen to arrive, uttering their loud cry 

 of '' corlieu.^^ In April they formerly retired to the South 

 Downs, where I have often observed them, particularly on 

 the wide expanse known as Plumpton Plain, between Ditch- 

 ling Beacon and Lewes, which was, some fifty years ago, 

 covered with coarse grass, especially Br-achydactyla pinnata, 

 among which I always thought it must be nesting, from its 

 constantly flying round and uttering an oft-repeated cry of 

 " Wha-up." I never, however, succeeded in finding the 

 eggs. In the breeding-season it betakes itself to moorlands 

 and open wastes, in the Western, Midland, and Northern 

 Counties, and to the mountains of Wales and Scotland, 

 where it forms a slight nest on the ground, of dry leaves or 

 grass placed in a tuft of rushes. 



