222 OUR RARER BIRDS 



bird's usual haunts. In such situations I have known them 

 to be broken by the harrows, or trod under foot by the cattle 

 and sheep grazing on the rough herbage. The Curlew's nest 

 is slight, and in some cases is dispensed with altogether. Its 

 materials consist of a few bits of herbage carelessly arranged 

 in a small cavity, either scraped out by the bird, or selected 

 ready-made for the purpose. 



The eggs of the Curlew are very large for the size of the 

 bird. Comparatively large eggs, be it known, is the rule with 

 this order of birds (Waders) ; but with the Curlew, and 

 perhaps its cousin, the Whimbrel, they are exceptionally so. 

 They are four in number ; sometimes five are found, but it is 

 extremely probable that the odd egg is the produce of another 

 female, or one from another nest placed there by some mis- 

 chievous cowboy or shepherd. The eggs in this order of 

 birds are always four in number, and to credit the Curlew 

 with five would make it quite exceptional to all the nearly 

 allied species. In form some specimens are much more 

 elongated than others, but as a rule the colour variation is 

 small. They are yellowish-green in ground colour, spotted 

 and blotched with dark yellowish-brown and olive-green, and 

 occasionally streaked on the large end with deep brown. 

 Both birds assist in incubating the eggs, and but one brood is 

 reared in the year. Should the eggs be taken, however, 

 others will be laid as a proof of which witness the broods 

 of this bird which are to be seen as late as the end of July. 



Throughout the breeding season the Curlew is a noisy 

 bird, and accompanies the wanderer over its breeding grounds 

 high in air, usually at a safe distance. Few sounds add more 

 to the grand impressiveness of the uplands than the Curlew's 

 mournful cry ; and we have not a bird whose wild notes lend 

 so much life to the dreary sameness of the mountain wilder- 

 ness. As is usual with species whose eggs are eminently 

 protective in colour, the sitting-bird quits the nest the instant 



