WHIMBREL 369 



bilberries and earth-worms. In the gizzards of female 

 Whimbrels obtained on Achill Island, co. Mayo, in May, 

 1900, I found remains of numerous beetles, the heads of 

 which measured 5x4 mm. ; also smooth brown larvae 2 

 cm. in length, and pebbles measuring 4x4 mm. 



.ZVgs^. Like the Curlew, the Whimbrel makes for its 

 nest a shallow hollow in the ground, as a rule amid coarse 

 herbage. The eggs, four in number, are rather similar to 

 those of the Curlew, but smaller. Incubation begins about 

 the end of May. 



The pugnacity evinced when an intruder appears at 

 the breeding-haunts is very marked. Mr. Coburn tells me 

 that, when in Iceland, he saw this species mob an Iceland 

 Falcon ; while Mr. Saunders has seen it attack an Arctic 

 Skua. 



The Whimbrel is not known to breed with certainty on 

 the mainland of Great Britain, but a few pairs do so on 

 some of the Orkneys, and larger numbers on the Shetlands. 

 North Eona, in the Outer Hebrides, also bears records of 

 it as a nesting-species. 



Geographical Distribution. Abroad, it breeds numerously 

 in Iceland and the Faroes, also in the Arctic and Sub-arctic 

 regions of Norway and Sweden ; more sparingly in North 

 Russia and Western Siberia. The autumn and winter 

 migration extends over the European Continent, across the 

 Mediterranean, along the African sea-board to the Cape. 

 Westward this species visits the Canaries and Azores, east- 

 ward, India and other parts of Southern and South-western 

 Asia, meeting with N. variegatus, the Eastern represen- 

 tative (vide infra). 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. The Whimbrel so 

 closely resembles the Curlew in the greyish and chequered 

 pattern of the plumage-markings that it is quite unnecessary 

 to give a detailed description of the former species. The 

 chief points of difference are to be seen on the top of the 

 head. Here, in the Whimbrel, two broad brown bands 

 pass from the front to the back, separated by a median 

 stripe of huffish-white (Fig. 50). These markings are 

 present in both adult and immature birds, and at all 

 seasons of the year. The back and wings of the adult 

 Whimbrel are rather less chequered than the same parts 

 of the adult Curlew. 



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