THE CURLEW SANDPIPER 305 



in May as to have earned the name of May- 

 bird. It is most frequent in the Southern 

 and Eastern counties, and also in some parts of 

 Scotland. It is frequently to be seen in company 

 with the curlews on the salt-marshes and long 

 stretches of mud-flats so frequent on the South 

 and East coasts. 



The curlew-sandpiper can hardly be called a 

 common bird, neither is it rare. Its visitations 

 occur during its migrations in spring and autumn, 

 more especially the latter. Like the whimbrel, 

 it is more frequently noticed in the Southern and 

 Eastern counties. It is a small unpretentious 

 bird, measuring seven inches in length, and its 

 plumage, like so many of the family to which it 

 belongs, is subject to considerable alteration, 

 that worn in the spring, a reddish brown with 

 black markings, giving place in the autumn to a 

 gray colour on the upper parts and white on the 

 under, the rump being white. The shape of the 

 bill is, like that of the curlew, long and curved 

 downwards, from which peculiarity it derives its 

 name. It frequents the salt-marshes and sand- 

 banks, but is less inclined to be gregarious than 

 the other members of this genus. 



The black-tailed godwit, another of our visitors 

 during its spring and autumnal migrations, was, 

 like the ruff, at one time a resident in Britain 

 in the Eastern counties. It is one of the largest 

 of the Scolopacidse, measuring from sixteen to 

 twenty inches in length. The winter plumage 



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