CUKLEW 359 



Adult winter, male and female. Top of head, hind-neck, 

 back, scapulars, and wings, light ash-brown ; throat, front 

 of neck, breast, and upper part of abdomen, light greyish ; 

 lower part of abdomen and under tail-coverts, white. 



Immature, male and female. Somewhat resembles the 

 adult winter-plumage, but exhibits a warm reddish-buff 

 shading about the neck and upper breast, and the back and 

 wings are darker brown. 



BEAK. Brownish ; slightly upcurved towards the tip. 



FEET. Olivaceous-green. 



IRIDES. Blackish-brown. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH .c. 16 in. Female a trifle larger. 



WING 8 



BEAK 3'7 ,, 



TARSO-METATARSUS 3*5 ,, 



EGG.. 2-2 X 1'5 in. 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. The Eastern 

 bird is larger than our own, but is not a distinct species, 

 while L. hudsonica, a smaller species, with smoky-brown 

 axillaries (which in our bird are white), inhabits North 

 America. 



CURLEW. Namemus arquata (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 48; Dresser, * Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 578 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pi. 57. 



The Curlew is one of the most plentiful of shore-birds. 

 Vast numbers, mainly migrants from higher latitudes, con- 

 gregate on our large estuarine mud-flats in autumn (Sep- 

 tember to November), many remaining until the following 

 spring. Of these, a large proportion are immature, and as 

 they do not breed until the completion of their second year, 



