64 GRALLATORES. NUMENIUS. CURLEW. 



extended circles round the place selected for nidification. 

 Nest, &c. The nest is placed on the ground amongst heath, or coarse 

 herbage, in a shallow part scraped in the ground, and lined 

 with decayed grass and rushes. The eggs are four in num- 

 ber, placed with their large ends outwards, and the smaller 

 meeting to a point in the centre of the nest ; of a pale oil- 

 green colour, blotched all over with two shades of brown. 

 The young leave their place of birth as soon as hatched, 

 and are then covered with a thick yellowish- white down, 

 varied with spots and masses of brown. By degrees the 

 feathers develope themselves, but the young birds are not 

 sufficiently fledged to take wing till they are six or seven 

 weeks old. During this period they are assiduously at- 

 tended by their parents, who lead them to appropriate feed- 

 ing-places, and by brooding over, protect them from the 

 cold and wet. Under these circumstances Curlews lose the 

 excessive shyness that characterises them at all other times, 

 and when the young are approached, will fly close around 

 the intruder, uttering their cry of courlis in quick repeti- 

 tion. Notwithstanding their natural wildness, when cap- 

 tured, either young or adult, they soon become tame, as I 

 have frequently experienced ; and MONTAGU, in the Supple- 

 ment to his Ornithological Dictionary, confirms this, and has 

 given a very interesting account of the habits and manners 

 of the Curlew (under that head), when in a state of domes- 

 tication, and to which I must refer my readers. The flesh 

 of these birds is excellent, being juicy and highly flavoured, 

 and is in great estimation at the table. The geographical dis- 

 tribution of the species is very extensive, it being found at 

 certain periods upon most of the shores of the Old World. 

 I have received specimens from India and the Delft Islands, 

 which scarcely differ in any respect from our own. The 

 Curlew of North America is, however, a distinct kind ; dis- 

 tinguished by a different disposition of colours, and an ex- 

 traordinary development of bill. 



