152 



NESTS AND EGGS OF 



[267.] WHIMBREL. Nvmenim phwopus (Linn.) Geog. Dist. Old World; 

 occasional in Greenland. 



In England and Scotland this bird is known as Whimbrel Curlew, "Half-Cur- 

 lew," or Jack Curlew." It breeds throughout Northern Europe and Asia. Though 

 pretty generally diffused in Great Britain, it is only found breeding in the extreme 

 north of Scotland, on the Orkney and Shetland Islands, where the eggs are hatched 

 by the first part of June. In these places the nests are made on elevated portions of 

 the heath. During the breeding season the Whimbrel is found on the Faroe Islands 

 and in Iceland. It is distributed throughout Denmark, Scandinavia and Russia; a, 

 few are known to breed in Lapland, as far north as latitude 65. It is said by the 

 best authorities that this bird is* the most widely diffused of all the waders. Its 

 extra-limital range includes Siberia, India, China, Australia and Africa. On the 

 Faroe Islands it is recorded as breeding from the 25th of May to the 17th of June. 

 The nest being simply a depression in the soil on some slight elevation in dry spots 

 in marshes. The eggs are four in number, pear-shaped, and vary in color from light 

 olive-brown to dark greenish-brown, clouded with spots and blotches of dark umber; 

 average size 2.34x1.67. 



[268.] BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEW, \innrniitx tahUicnxi* (Gmel.) Geog. 

 Dist. Islands of the Pacific Ocean; occasional on the coast of Alaska and Lower 

 California, 



268. BRISTLB-THIGHKD CURLEW. (From Nelson.) 



This Curlew, which IB a native of various islands in the Pacific Ocean is given 

 a place in our avifauna on the ground that two examples were taken on our western 

 coast, one at St. Michael's Island and the other on Kadiak Island, Alaska, 



[269.] LAPWING. 1V; //..- ranellu* (Linn.) Geog. 3. St. Northern portion 

 of Eastern Hemisphere; occasional in Arctic America, Greenland and the Islands of 

 Norton Sound, Alaska. 



