874 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



In plumage and general appearance the Whimbrel 

 much resembles the Curlew, so much so that many 

 of the boatmen at Burnham where these birds and 

 the Curlew are both common call them "Young 

 Curlews." The beak is long and much bent down- 

 wards ; the upper mandible is black, the lower black 

 at the tip, livid flesh-colour at the base ; irides dark 

 brown ; the space from the beak to the eye brown ; 

 there is a white streak over the eye ; the top of the 

 head is dark brown, with a streak of white down the 

 centre ; back and sides of the neck brown, streaked 

 with white ; feathers of the back and scapulars dark 

 brown, margined light grey and white; the rump 

 white, some of the feathers irregularly marked with 

 brown ; tail-coverts barred white and brown ; tail 

 barred brown and pale brown, inclining to white on 

 the outside feathers and under the coverts ; the 

 lesser wing- coverts are paler brown than the back 

 and with broader and lighter margins ; the greater 

 coverts the same brown, chequered near the margins 

 with white ; the coverts of the primary quills are 

 dusky, tipped with white ; the primary quills are 

 dusky, glossed in some lights with sap-green, the 

 first four are partly barred on the inner web with 

 white, all the rest barred on both webs ; the shafts 

 are white ; the secondary and tertial quills the same 

 as their coverts ; chin white ; throat white, streaked 

 with brown; breast white, with narrow streaks of 

 brown on the shaft of each feather; belly white; 



