WHIMBKEL. 



103 



smaller. Mr. Cordeaux states that in the H umber district few birds 

 alight there in autumn, the greater number passing on without stopping. 

 This bird does not appear to associate much with other species; but a 

 solitary bird will often join a flock of Dunlins or Curlews. 



The Whimbrel is a much smaller bird than the Curlew. The difference 

 between the plumages of male and female and of summer and winter are 

 so slight in the Whimbrel that they are difficult to detect. The adult in 

 summer plumage has the general colour of the feathers of the upper parts 

 almost the same as in the Curlew ; but the pale margins and bars are 

 greyer and much more obscurely denned. The wings, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts closely resemble those of the Curlew, but the crown is quite 

 differently coloured; instead of being pale brown uniformly streaked with 

 dark brown, it is a nearly uniform dark brown, which contrasts strongly 

 with the nearly white eye-stripes and mesial line ; and all the tail-feathers 

 are pale brown barred with dark brown. The underparts scarcely differ 

 from those of the Curlew, except that the bars on the thighs are more 

 conspicuous and the axillaries are more profusely barred. Bill dark 

 brown, paler at the base of the lower mandible ; legs, feet, and claws dull 

 slate-grey ; irides hazel. Young in first plumage are much more distinct 

 from adults in colour than those of the Curlew. The feathers of the 

 mantle, the scapulars, and the innermost secondaries are dark brown, 

 spotted on their margins with buff; the ground-colour of the wing-coverts 

 is buff instead of white, and the rump is more or less distinctly streaked. 

 Very little difference is noticeable on the underparts, except that the axil- 

 laries are not so broadly barred. It is not known whether the young in 

 first plumage change any of their feathers before their first spring moult, 

 after which they only differ from adults in having the general colour of the 

 upper parts not quite so grey, and in having the bars on the scapulars and 

 innermost secondaries not quite so obscure. Young in down very closely 

 resemble those of the Curlew. 



