264 Wild Life in Wales 



lawn for worms, but it never does so with any apparent 

 comfort, and, if left to its own resources, would speedily 

 starve, where the other has no difficulty in finding a 

 plentiful supply of fat worms. One which I kept for 

 some time beside an Oystercatcher seemed to be so 

 conscious of its inferiority as a worm-catcher, that, except 

 on very wet days, it was generally content to follow its 

 companion about, on the offchance of picking up some 

 crumbs from its table, or of committing an occasional 

 theft. At the latter game it became rather an adept, though 

 the Oystercatcher was always able to hold its own, if it came 

 to a trial either of strength or cuteness. Very often, how- 

 ever, the latter resigned its worm without protest, as though 

 aware of the Curlew's disability, and its own superior skill 

 to procure more. Whether on the bog, or by the seashore, 

 it is difficult to see how the curved bill can have any 

 advantage over a straight one ; though that, in competent 

 hands, it is sufficient for the work assigned to it, is testified 

 by the excellent condition in which a Curlew is usually able 

 to keep itself. 



The length, and curvature of the bill, is subject to a good 

 deal of individual variation, not only in Curlews, but in 

 several other birds e.g. Dunlins, Godwits, Water Rails, etc. 

 This divergence from type is not apparently effected by age 

 or sex, and no such inconsistency occurs at least to nothing 

 like the same extent amongst birds which have straight 

 bills. The apparent uselessness of a curved bill has already 

 been remarked upon ; and in view of the fact that extremes 

 of curvature are decidedly the exception, it is questionable 

 whether the long, and much curved bills, may not be 

 survivals of a type that is being replaced by shorter, and 

 straighter, but more serviceable organs. 



The Curlew's bill of fare is very varied. On the sea- 

 shore, it consists largely of small molluscs, crustaceans, 

 lug-worms, et hoc genus omne ; inland, it includes a consider- 

 able quantity of vegetable substances, such as moorland 

 berries, some of the smaller gilled fungi, and gram. On a 

 field of spring wheat, a considerable amount of pilfering is 

 done by the wily flock of Curlews that are invariably so fond 



