504 



SCOLOPACID.E. 



shores during winter to procure food. They were expert 

 fly-catchers (' Some more Scraps about Birds,' p. 59). 

 Montagu observed that they could swim with ease. This 

 species often has been observed to perch on trees, presenting 

 a very ungainly appearance. 



The Curlew is an excellent bird for the table when young, 

 and before it has had time to feed on the sea-shore, but it 

 soon becomes unpalatable. It was formerly in high estima- 

 tion, for by the L 'Estrange ' Household Book ' it would 

 appear that a single Curlew was worth from five to six 

 pence (and even twelve pence in the Lord North Accounts), 

 the price of three Woodcocks. Our ancestors evidently 

 estimated the value of a wild bird, to some extent, by its 

 size ; and it must also be remembered that although live 

 Curlews were doubtless more common then than now, dead 

 ones were probably far rarer. Woodcocks could be caught 

 with springes, which were vain engines against the wary 

 Curlew, nor would the cross-bow or the arquebuss be much 

 more effective. At a still later date Willughby says : 

 " This bird, for the goodness and delicate taste of its flesh, 

 may justly challenge the principal place among Water-fowl. 

 Of this our Fowlers are not ignorant, and therefore sell them 

 dear. They have a Proverb among them in Suffolk : 



A Curlew, be she white, be she black, 

 She carries twelve pence on her back." * 



The wariness of Curlews is well known to shore-shooters, 

 and, owing to their keen sense of smell and powers of sight, 

 they are very difficult of approach ; but their hearing does not 

 appear to be so acute as in many other birds. Their shrill 

 screams soon spread the alarm among other ' fowl,' and the 

 Editor has seen a Curlew, after shrieking wildly over the 

 head of a sleeping seal, swoop down, and apparently flick 

 with its wing the unsuspecting animal upon which the 

 stalker was just raising his rifle. Yet it occasionally falls a 

 victim to its curiosity, and in some places a trained dog of 



* It is possible that the ' black ' may refer to the Glossy Ibis, which is said to 

 have been called the Black Curlew by the marshmen, but it is not unlikely that 

 the word was introduced for the sake of rhyme. 



