THE SANDPIPERS. 



163 



The Curlews (NwmewiuB) are found in every part of the world, arriving in the northern regions 

 in summer, and passing south in considerable numbers in. the autumn. The note of these birds has 

 something plaintive and wild in its composition, whether it be heard on the moorland, where the species 

 nests, or on the dreary mud-flats of a tidal river or harbour. In. the autumn the latter places are 

 visited by numbers of Curlew on their way to their winter quarters, and in many parts they are called 

 by the gunners and fishermen tame Curlews, as they are so- much more easily obtaiiied at this 

 season, the reason being that the flocks are then principally composed of young birds of the year 

 taking their first migratory journey south. The old Curlew is a much more wary bird, especially on 

 the return journey in April and May, when he travels, either singly or in company with his mate, to 



COMMON SNIPE. 



the upland moors in Scotland and the northern counties of England, where he is to rear his young. 

 In size the Curlew is about two feet and a quarter in length, and has a curved bill of from six to eight 

 inches, and even these latter dimensions are sometimes exceeded. 



THE SECOND SUB-FAMILY OF THE SNIPES. THE SANDPIPERS 

 In these birds the bill is straight or slightly curved up, the toes at the base joined by a fold of 

 skin. All the Godwits and Sandpipers make up this sub-family, many representatives of them being 

 met with at the autumn migration on the English coasts. Leaving the little inn, where the collector 

 on a shooting excursion has to put up, he will betake himself to his hunting-ground, which is probably 

 some tidal harbour or mouth of a tidal river. A boat with an apt oarsman, a gun with plenty of 

 cartridges, and a certain stock of food to last for himself and the fisherman during the day's outing, 

 constitute all the outfit which a keen collector will require for his expedition after the Sandpipers. 

 The tide will now be coming in, and the channel in tlie middle of the harbour, no longer sunk between 

 two deep banks of black mud, will be momentarily broadening under the influx of the approaching tide, 

 so that its course can now be distinctly traced to the mouth of the harbour two miles away. As the 

 sportsman seats himself in the narrow little boat or punt, and his bare-legged pilot pushes her off, 

 takes his seat in the stern, and works her head along by means of his single oar or paddle, the con- 

 tinued cries of the shore-birds resounding far away on every side will tell the listener that they, too, 



