ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 623 



laying their neck and head quite flat on the ground, until 

 you came within a short distance, when, at the single 

 whistle of any one of the flock, they would all imme- 

 diately scream and fly off, ranging about for a while, and, 

 not unfrequently, re-alighting on the same spot. By the 

 12th of August, however, they had all left the country." 



The bird killed in Scotland is, with other details, thus 

 described in the Naturalist for the month of December 

 last (1855) : The bill is brownish black, the basal portion 

 of the lower mandible flesh-coloured ; irides dark brown ; 

 sides of the head yellowish brown, with brown streaks ; 

 upper part of the head brownish black, edged with red- 

 dish brown, neck considerably lighter, edged with dull 

 white ; upper parts blackish brown, with light edges ; 

 primary quills dusky brown, the shafts of the first four 

 white, the others becoming darker, passing into pale 

 brown ; secondaries lighter ; rump dark brown, with light 

 edges ; upper tail-coverts barred with dark and light 

 shades ; tail, of twelve feathers, ash grey, with dark brown 

 bars, edged and tipped with brownish white ; throat, and 

 a streak over the eye, nearly white ; foreneck light brown, 

 with small longitudinal liver brown markings ; under wing- 

 coverts chestnut, with irregular brown markings; breast 

 and abdomen yellowish grey, tinged with brown ; tarsi and 

 feet dark green. 



The whole length is about fourteen inches ; the bill two 

 inches three lines ; wing, from anterior bend, eight inches 

 nine lines ; tarsus one inch ten lines ; middle toe almost 

 one inch. 



The representation here given is taken, on a reduced 

 scale, from Mr. Swainson's figure. 



