490 PLOVER TRIBE. 



by its metatarsus exceeding 3 inches in length, and by the lower back and 

 rump being much paler in colour than the remainder of the upper-parts. In the 

 breeding-plumage of the adult male the general hue of the upper-parts is pale 

 brown, shading into white on the wing-coverts, each feather having a dark brown 

 centre ; the under-parts are w^hite, tinged on the neck and breast with pale brown, 

 where the feathers are also streaked with dark brown. The rump is white; 

 the upper tail-coverts are white or whitish, streaked or barred with brown ; the 

 quills dark brown with white bars ; and the tail-feathers white or whitish with 

 dark brown bars. The beak is dark brown, and the legs and feet are slaty grey. 

 This species is resident in the British Islands, whence it extends as far east as the 

 Caspian, beyond which the typical form is replaced by a paler variety; which 

 ranges into Eastern Siberia and Amurland. The breeding-range extends from 

 the confines of the Arctic Circle to Holland ; and while the migratory individuals 

 of the European form pass the winter in Africa, the Oriental variety is met with 

 at that season in India. The whimbrel (N. phceopus) is a smaller bird than the 

 curlew, measuring only 16 to 18 inches, and having a relatively shorter beak; and 

 may be distinguished, in common with^some other species, by the crown of the 

 head being of a uniform pale brown colour, with a lighter median longitudinal 

 streak; its distinctive specific characteristic being that the lower portion of the 

 back is much lighter than the rest of the upper-parts. Although a more northern 

 species than the curlew, not breeding in the British Islands south of the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands, the distribution of the whimbrel is very similar ; the common form 

 being replaced in Eastern Asia by a variety which winters in India and Australia. 

 The nearly allied American whimbrel (N. hudsonianus), whose winter-range 

 extends to Patagonia, differs by the chestnut axillaries and under wing-coverts, 

 and the similarity in the colour of all the upper-parts. The still smaller Eskimo 

 whimbrel (N. borealis), which breeds in Arctic America, and occasionally straggles 

 during migration to Britain, differs by the absence of barring on the primary quills ; 

 while the least whimbrel (N. minutus), which breeds in Eastern Siberia and 

 winters in Malayana and Australia, may be distinguished from the latter by the 

 metatarsus being covered with scutes both in front and behind. 



All the members of the genus are of very similar habits, fre- 

 quenting moors, inland marshes, and uplands during the summer, and 

 seeking the coasts more while on migration and during the winter. Even more 

 wary than the oyster-catchers, curlews take wing at the least alarm, and rarely 

 allow themselves to be approached within gunshot range. Whenever alarmed, 

 they utter their well-known piercing cry as they rise in the air ; and these weird 

 notes, especially when a whole flock of birds join in the chorus, may be heard at 

 great distances across the moors. Gregarious in winter, the birds break up into 

 pairs in the spring ; and in the breeding-season lay, in a slight nest on the ground, 

 four somewhat pear-shaped eggs, of which the ground-colour is olive-green, marked 

 with spots of brown and grey. In summer, the food of the European species 

 consists of insects, larvae, and worms, sometimes supplemented with berries ; but 

 in winter it is largely composed of small marine crustaceans and molluscs. 

 Although generally so shy and wary, in the breeding-season curlews are far bolder ; 

 and when the young are hatched, both parent birds will often fly anxiously round 



