CHAPTER VI 



GREAT CURLEW AND WHIMBREL 



THE Great Curlews nest on the ground in a 

 hollow, under the shelter of heath tufts or stunted 

 willows, torey grass, or any other short moorland 

 cover. The nest is composed of dry grass, twigs of 

 heath, or other plants, and is what might be called 

 slovenly built, but it answers the builder's purpose 

 admirably. The eggs, four in number, are very 

 large, being three inches long ; they vary in ground- 

 colour, being light olive or greenish-grey, or dull 

 yellowish-brown, spotted and blotched with umber 

 brown, very thickly sprinkled at the larger end ; even 

 the eggs vary in size. 



This long-billed, long-legged, wary bird is asso- 

 ciated with wild scenery ; be very sure that the 

 wailing cry of this most astute member of the wader 

 family will not be heard where cultivation shows. I 

 heard him in my earliest years, so early that I have 

 tumbled into the tide looking for him before I was 

 fit to be trusted forty yards away from home. I had 

 been shown one, and told where the man had got it ; 



and so, child-like, I started off full of faith that I 



62 



