COMMON CURLEW. 



LIMWOL&. 



499 



SCOLOPACIDM. 



NUMENIUS ARQUATA. (Linnaeus*). 



THE COMMON CURLEW. 



Numenius arquata. 



NUMENIUS, Brisson^. Beak long, slender, and decurved to the point, which 

 is hard ; upper mandible rather longer than the lower, rounded near the end and 

 grooved along three-fourths of its whole length. Nostrils lateral, linear, pierced 

 in the groove. Legs rather long, slender ; tibia partly naked ; three toes in 

 front, unitsd by a membrane as far as the first articulation ; one toe behind 

 articulated upon the tarsus, and touching the ground. Wings moderate, the 

 first quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



THE CURLEW is so common a bird as to be well known 

 on almost every part of our coast, where it obtains a living 



* Scolopax Arquata, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 242 (1766). 

 t Ornithologie, v. p. 311 (1760) : from veos new, and jLrvr, moon 

 crescent-shaped, like the new moon. 



