SOME ILLUSTRATIVE EXPERIENCES 125 



curlews. To do so I took on three different occasions six 

 birds, consisting of three heavy and three light specimens, 

 selected from the bag. The aggregate weight of each lot of 

 six ran : lof lb., 1 1 lb., and i ij lb., so that the average weight of 

 a curlew is less than 2 lb. Many curlews, however, reach 2 lb. 

 6 oz., but one over this weight is exceptional. Young curlews, 

 just after leaving the moors, average about i^ lb. I have seen 

 others in good condition shot on the coast, scale no more than 

 17 oz. Out of the 214 curlews above mentioned, not one had 

 a bill exceeding 61 in., though several reached this length. To 

 arrive at an average I selected six birds — an adult female, 

 6 in. ; a young male, 4 in. ; a young female, 4^ in. ; an adult 

 male, 5 in. ; a small adult female, 5f in. ; a large adult female, 

 6f in. Thus there resulted an average length of 5^ in. This 

 autumn I measured the bills of forty curlews shot during 

 September, and found the average to fall 1-16 in. short of that 

 stated above. In concluding these brief remarks on the 

 weights and bill lengths of curlews, I feel safe in stating that a 

 curlew over 2h lb. is an exceptionally large one, while a bill 

 over 6f in. is well above the ordinary length. Curlews shot in 

 autumn are usually palatable if properly roasted. In mid- 

 winter, however, they are not nearly so good ; in fact, they are 

 then often quite fishy and rank. 



