CURLEW AND WHIMBREL 529 



CURLEW AND WHIMBREL 

 [W. FARREN] 



The curlew and whimbrel are distinguished from all other British 

 Waders by their long curved bill. They are also, with one or two 

 exceptions, of a far more robust build, and the curlew is in every way 

 larger than any other species. Both nest with us. The curlew is one 

 of our commonest resident Waders, breeding from one end of the 

 British Isles to the other, wherever suitable moorlands occur owing 

 to the absence of these it does not breed, except on rare occasions, in 

 the south-eastern and eastern counties up to Yorkshire and is an 

 abundant bird of passage in spring and autumn. 1 The whimbrel, 

 although plentiful on passage in spring and autumn to and from its 

 northern breeding-places, is restricted as a comparatively rare nesting 

 species to some of the Orkneys and Shetlands, and has only very 

 occasionally been found in winter. 



The distribution of the two species is interesting by reason of 

 a remarkable parallelism in the variation of closely allied species, 

 subspecies, or local forms throughout the northern hemisphere. 

 Curlews and whimbrels occur in Europe, Asia, and America, and 

 although the whimbrels the smaller species are always the more 

 northern, the curlews overlap them as in North Britain. Our birds 

 extend eastwards to Asiatic Siberia, where both species are replaced 

 by doubtfully distinct forms, with more heavy barrings on the white 

 of the lower back and rump. These forms continue to Japan and 

 China, and in winter migrate southwards to the Malay and Australian 

 regions. In America we find representatives of both species, and 

 these are distinguished from the old-world birds by the rufous colour 



1 It has been occasionally recorded as nesting in Norfolk. For one record see British Birds 

 (magazine), iv. p. 88. 



