Curlews and Whimbrels 267 



been discussing Curlews, and I had expressed an opinion 

 against their stealing eggs, when he said he could prove it 

 " beyond possobeelity o' doot," and this he proceeded to do 

 in something like the following words : 



"Ye'll mebby mind the splore there was ower the dis- 

 appearance of the young laird's c Laddie ' a while syne ? 

 A-weel, as sure as death, it was her nainsell had te sink 

 the puir beastie i' the black tarn, all fornenst ane o' thae same 

 batherin' whaups. I had pit doon an egg on the hill for a 

 corby, an' a whaup must needs come an' pissen hersell. I 

 threw her into a hole, an' twa days later c Laddie ' maun 

 hae fished oot the body, for there he lay, deed aside it, wi' 

 its heed eaten aff! " 



It is very commonly stated in books (cf. Yarrell, Saunders' 

 Manual, etc.) that young Curlews, before they go to the sea- 

 side, are good eating, but that afterwards their flesh becomes 

 rank and fishy. Just the reverse has generally been my 

 experience. I have shot them on the hills, in August, and 

 again in turnips, etc., later in the season ; but have seldom 

 found them, then, at all to be compared, as table birds, with 

 those shot during winter, at or near the seaside ; and young 

 birds I have usually considered less good to eat than old 

 ones, when killed on the moor. There are, of course, 

 exceptions both ways, and the difference of a meal or two 

 may sometimes be sufficient to influence flavour ; but, as a 

 general rule, I feel confident that there must be many people 

 whose experience will tally with my own, contrary though 

 it may be to that expressed by so many writers, both before 

 and since the days when popular opinion found expression 

 in such couplets as 



" A curlew lean or a curlew fat 

 Carries twelvepence on her back." 



On the coast of Merionethshire, the Whimbrel, or " Jack 

 Curlew," is known as Coeg-gylfinhir, or Coeg-gylfinog^ but 

 inland it is rarely recognised. I only met with it twice in 

 the neighbourhood of Llanuwchllyn ; once in August, on the 

 side of the lake, and again, on 2Oth September, when one 

 flew over my head near the summit of Aran. Like its 



