THE CURLEWS. 323 



with longitudinal streaks of dark brown on the throat and 

 breast, and with bars of dark brown, of a more or less sagittate 

 shape, on the sides of the body and flanks ; abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts white, the latter with streaks and bars of dark 

 brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, with dusky- 

 brown bars, very distinct on the latter ; quills dusky-brown 

 below, notched with white ; bill black, the base of the under 

 mandible pale brown; feet light greyish-blue, claws black; iris 

 brown. Total length, 15 inches ; culmen, 3*4; wing, 9*5; tail, 

 37; tarsus, 2-5. 



Adult Female in Breeding Plumage. Similar to the male in plu- 

 mage, and scarcely differing in size. Total length, 15 inches; 

 culmen, 3-3; wing, 9-8; tail, 3-9; tarsus, 2-25. 



Adults in Winter Plumage. Similar to the summer plumage, 

 but with the lower back perfectly white, the black streaks being 

 concealed ; the under parts less distinctly streaked, and the 

 flanks less distinctly barred than in the summer plumage. 



Young Birds. May always be distinguished by the more mottled 

 appearance of the upper surface, most of the feathers being 

 spotted on both webs with whitish or pale rufescent-buff ; the 

 lower back and rump are plentifully mottled with spots of dusky- 

 brown, and the innermost secondaries very distinctly notched 

 with rufescent-buff; the streaks on the throat and breast, and 

 the bars on the flanks, almost as plentifully developed as in the 

 adults ; the bars on the axillaries are often very incomplete, anc 

 are, in rare instances, entirely absent. 



Range in Great Britain. The Whimbrel is chiefly known as a 

 migrant, but it breeds sparingly in the Orkneys and Shetlands, 

 as well as in North Ronay in the Outer Hebrides. A certain 

 number remain during the winter, especially on the west coast 

 of Ireland, but the species is for the most part migratory in Great 

 Britain, coming north in April and May, and returning in August 

 and September. The first heralds in autumn migration are the 

 young birds returning south in July. 



Range outside the British Islands. From Iceland and the Faeroes 

 to Scandinavia and Northern Russia, as far as the Valley of the 

 Petchora, the Whimbrel breeds above the limit of forest growth. 

 The exact eastern limit of the breeding-range is at preset un- 



