THE FAMILY OF WADERS. 247 



do well to keep his dagger of a bill and his long 

 neck away from your face. So-called dead herons 

 have been known to revive with very disagreeable 

 results. 



That noble bird the curlew comes next on our 

 list. His plumage, mottled, speckled, and cut up 

 with broken tones of brown, grey, white, and light- 

 red, makes him look like a plover when squatted, 

 unless his long sickle-shaped bill can be detected, 

 a most difficult matter when in that position. He 

 is wary in the extreme morning, noon, and night 

 on the alert. That he is brought to bag at times 

 is certainly no fault of his, but is mainly due to his 

 surroundings. 



" There's a flood-tide to-day, Master John," said 

 one of the farm hands of an old friend of mine, 

 whose extensive fields ran clean down to the salt- 

 flats facing the Essex shore. " It strikes me that 

 if you brings your old double, and Don, you'll stan r 

 a rare good chance fur a clip at curlews in the 

 swede-fields. I've sin two mobs on 'em pitch in at 

 half-flood time. You gits here, 'twill be full flood, 

 the ma'shlands will be flooded right up to the field- 

 grounds. They curlews is bound to come an' pick 



