WHIMBREL. 



LIMICOLM. 



507 



SCOLOPACIDJK. 



NUMENIUS PH^EOPU-S (Linnaeus*). 

 THE WHIMBREL. 

 Numenius phaopus. 



IN its plumage, its haunts, habits, and food, the WhimbreJ 

 very closely resembles the Curlew last described, but is by 

 no means so numerous as a species, and is also very con- 

 siderably smaller in size, so much so, that it has in some 

 counties obtained the names of Half- Curlew and Jack- 

 Curlew in reference to its diminished comparative propor- 

 tions. Though to be seen occasionally on many parts of 

 our shores in winter, it is generally most plentiful in May : 

 so much so that both in Norfolk and in Cornwall it is known 

 as the " May-bird " : and again in autumn, when these birds 



* Scolopax Phceopus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 243 (1766). 



