BIRDS. 3 13 



should here enter into a particular history of a numerous tribe of 

 birds, whose manners and forms are so much alike. Of many 

 of them we have scarcely any account in our historians, but te- 

 dious descriptions of their dimensions, and the colour of their 

 plumage ; and of the rest, the history of one is so much that of 

 all, that it is but the same account repeated to a most disgusting 

 reiteration. I will therefore groupe them into one general 

 draught ; in which the more eminent, or the most whimsical, 

 will naturally stand forward on the canvass. 



In this tribe we find an extensive tribe of native birds, with 

 their varieties and affinities ; and we might add a hundred others, 

 of distant climates, of which we know little more than the col- 

 our and the name. In this list is exhibited the Curlew, a bird 

 of about the size of a duck, with a bill four inches long : the 

 Woodcock, about the size of a pigeon, with a bill three inches 

 long : the Godwit, of the same size ; the bill four inches : the 

 Green Shank, longer legged; the bill two inches and a half : the 

 Red Shank, differing in the colour of its feet from the former : 

 the Snipe, less by half, with a bill three inches. Then with 

 shorter bills — The Ruff, with a collar of feathers round the neck 

 of the male : the Knot, the Sandpiper, the Sanderling, the Dun- 

 lin, the Purre, and the Stint. To conclude : with bills very 

 short — The Lapwing, the Green Plover, the Gray Plover, the 

 Dottrel, the Turnstone, and the Sea-lark. These, with their 

 affinities, are properly natives or visitants of this country ; and 

 are dispersed along our shores, rivers, and watery grounds. 

 Taking in the birds of this kind, belonging to other countries, 

 the list would be very widely extended ; and the whole of this 

 class, as described by Jirisson, would amount to near a hundred. • 



* We shall here notice more particularly the birds above enumerated. 



The Curlew. — There arc two species of the Curlew to be found in Ku. 

 rope— the Common Curlew and the Little Curlew, but there are various 

 other species, in Asia, Africa, and America, differing very much in size, the 

 longest measuring about twenty-five inches, and sometimes weighing thirty- 

 Bix ounces. These birds fly in considerable flocks, and are well known upon 

 the sea-coasts in most parts, where, and in the marshes, they frequent iu 

 winter. '1 hey feed on worms, frogs, and all kinds of marine insects. In 

 April, or the beginning of May, they retire into mountainous and unfre. 

 qucntcd parts on the sea-shore, where they breed ; and do not return again 

 till the approach of winter. There have been some aikocatos in favour of 

 the flesh of this bird, but in general it is strong and fishy. It has a long 

 black bill, much curved or arched, about eight fingers long, aud bcgiiiumK 



