332 HISTORY OF 



Thus tlie curlew, the woodcock, and the snipe, are ever seen 

 in plashy brakes, and under covered hedges, assiduously employed 

 in seeking out insects in their worm state ; and it seems, from 

 their fatness, that they find a plentiful supply. Nature, indeed, 

 has furnished them with very convenient instruments for procur- 

 ing their food. Their bills are made sufficiently long for search- 

 ing; but still more, they are endowed with an exquisite sensibi- 

 lity at the point, for feeling their provision. They are furnished 

 with no less than three pair of nerves, equal almost to the optic 

 nerves in thickness ; which pass from the roof of the mouth, and 

 run along the upper chap to the point. 



Nor are those birds with shorter bills, and destitute of such 

 convenient instruments, without a proper provision made for 

 their subsistence. The lapwing, the sandpiper, and the red- 

 shank, run with surprising rapidity along the surface of the marsh 

 or the sea-shore, quarter their ground with great dexterity, and 

 leave nothing of the insect kind that happens to lie on the sur- 

 face. These, however, are neither so fat nor so delicate as the 



remain here the whole year. The female lays two eggs on the dry ground, 

 near some marsh, upon a little bed which it prepares of dry^rass : these 

 are olive-coloiired, and spotted with black. She sits about three weeks ; 

 and the young, who are covered with a thick down, are able to run two or 

 three days after they are hatched. 



The Turnstone— Is about the size of a thrush ; the bill is nearly an inch 

 long, and turns a little upwards. The head, throat, and belly, are white : 

 the breast black ; and the neck encircled with a black colour. The upper 

 parts of the plumage are of a pale reddish brown. These birds take their 

 name from their method of finding their food, which is by turning up small 

 stones with their bills to get the insects that lurk under them. 



The Whimbrel. — The whimbrel is only about half the size of the curlew, 

 which it very nearly resembles in shape, the colours of its plumage, and 

 manner of its living. It is about seventeen inches in length, and twenty- 

 nine in breadth ; and weighs about fourteen ounces. The bill is about three 

 inches long ; the upper mandible black, the under one pale red. The upper 

 part of the head is black, divided in the middle of the crown by a white lino 

 from the brow to the hinder part ; between the bill and the eyes there is a 

 darkish oblong spot ; the sides of the head, the neck, and breast, are of a 

 pale brown, marked with narrow dark streaks pointing downwards ; the 

 belly is of the same colour, but the dark streaks upon it are larger ; about 

 the vent it is quite white ; the lower part of the back is also white. The 

 riimp and tail feathers are barred with black and white ; the shafts of the 

 quills are white, the outer webs totally black, but the inner ones marked 

 with large white spots : the secondary quills are spotted in the same manner 

 on both the inner and outer webs. The legs and feet are of the same shape 

 And colour as those of the curlew. 



