220 OUR RARER BIRDS 



varying phases glances panorama -like before his admiring 

 gaze. Alone in Nature's sanctuaries, with these fair ornaments 

 of field and shore, he feels not the absence of his kindred. 

 The science of his choice absorbs him with ever-increasing 

 interest, and inspires him with feelings he never knew before. 

 Reader, pardon these few random musings on the breezy 

 rain-washed moor ; the shower has passed ; we will now busy 

 ourselves with the habits and economy of the wild and wary 

 Curlew. 



Like most of our wading birds, the Curlew changes its 

 haunts at certain seasons of the year, and is also a partially 

 migratory species. But it is very probable that the birds 

 which nest in this country are residents, the migrants being 

 birds which breed in northern regions, and are compelled to 

 journey south when the sun quits their arctic haunts and the 

 long polar night begins. In summer the Curlew's haunts in 

 our country are the moors and upland wastes ; and the flat 

 marshy shores and estuaries are its chosen retreat in winter. 

 Let us make our first acquaintance with him on the moor- 

 lands. The vernal season is expanding in all its lovely fresh- 

 ness. The Skylark is pouring forth his tuneful melody, and 

 the Song Thrush and Blackcap are warbling from the copse. 

 But we must leave such sylvan birds ; our quarry is higher 

 up the hillsides, on the bleak moors and rough mountain 

 wastes. On the threshold of the moor the Lapwing anxiously 

 beats over the rough pastures, uttering her melancholy wail 

 as we invade her nesting ground ; the Stonechats flit amongst 

 the gorse ; and on the wild moor the Twite sits on the heather 

 tufts, ever and anon calling its name to the wilderness. 

 Perched on a rocky boulder, the Eing Ouzel sits and pipes 

 his mountain song ; and the whistle of the Golden Plover, 

 alarmed at our approach, and the harsh go-lac-lac-bac of the 

 Red Grouse, herald our entry upon the upland wastes. We 

 stroll expectant over them, but the ever- watchful Curlews are 



