260 THE COMMON CURLEW. 



the name of " a goblin or evil spirit, supposed to go under 

 the eaves of houses after the fall of night, having a long 

 beak resembling a pair of tongs, for the purpose of carrying 

 off evil doers ; " and he adds, " This goblin appears to have 

 borrowed its name from the Curlew." The habit which this 

 species has of flying about in the grey dark of evening, 

 uttering its somewhat eerie cry, has doubtless associated the 

 bird with goblins, witches, and the like. Sir Walter Scott 

 in his Black Dwarf makes Hobbie Elliot say : " What needs I 

 care for the Mucklestane-Moor ony mair than ye do yoursell, 

 Earnscliff ? To be sure, they say there's a sort of worricows 

 and lang-nebbit things about the land, but what need I care 

 for them ? " 



An amusing anecdote in connection with the Curlew 

 is related by a gentleman in Berwickshire who had employed 

 a village carpenter to fit up a glass case for a collection of 

 stuffed birds in a room of his house. Going one morning to 

 see how the work was proceeding, the carpenter, pointing 

 to a number of birds which were standing on the floor at 

 the opposite side of the room, said : " They're some funny- 

 looking birds owre there. Now what d'ye ca' that yin wi 

 the lang neb ? " " Oh," said the gentleman, " that is a 

 Curlew." " Oh aye," remarked the carpenter, " I mind 

 when I was at the schule learnin, 'The Curlew tolls the 

 knell of parting day.' " Dr. Henderson in his Popular 

 Rhymes of Berwickshire^- says that the people on the 

 Lammermuirs are called " Lammermoor Whaups," as dis- 

 tinguishing them from the inhabitants of the lower dis- 

 tricts. 



The Curlew is found on the shores of Berwickshire 

 about Oldcambus during autumn, winter, and early spring. 

 It generally leaves the coast about the middle of March for 



1 Popular Rhymes of Berwickshire, p. 29. 



