MARCH 61 



even the rearguard of them remains north of a line 

 corresponding roughly with the Moray Firth. They 

 generally come back together, the first token of approach- 

 ing spring in Helmsdale strath being the arrival of small 

 companies of each about the middle of February. 



Curlews may be reckoned among the surest friends 

 of the farmer, for they desert the shore in spring until 

 their young brood are able to accompany them thither 

 in late summer. During the nesting season on the moors 

 and rough arable ground they devour immense quantities 

 of caterpillars, grubs, and other insects. The chicks are 

 delightful little creatures, with short and blunt bills, 

 betraying no resemblance to those of their parents. It 

 is during adolescence that these features develop to the 

 prodigious proportions so conspicuous in old curlews. In 

 this respect they resemble the shoveller duck, which as a 

 duckling carries a bill as neatly shaped as that of any 

 mallard. The art of wood-cutting has been done to 

 death by cheap processes of various degrees of merit and 

 demerit. More 's the pity ! as anybody will exclaim on 

 turning to the woodcut of a young curlew in Yarrell's 

 British Birds. For fidelity of portraiture and delicacy of 

 execution, I know of nothing in wood-engraving superior 

 to this, executed before the invention of photography. 



Nobody can have given much attention to the habits 

 of fowls of the air without noticing the degrees of wari- 

 ness which distinguish different species of the same 

 family. In no group of birds is this more remarkable 

 than in the plovers. The peewit, or green plover, and 

 the golden plover may be seen constantly associated 

 together on the feeding-grounds; but the behaviour of 

 the two species is in strong contrast The peewit is far 



