BRITISH BIRDS. 67 



THE bill is long, equally incurvated, and ter- 

 minated in a blunt point; nostrils linear, and 

 longitudinal near the base ; tongue short and sharp- 

 pointed; toes connected, as far as the first joint, by 

 a membrane. 



Only two or three of the Curlews are British 

 birds. They inhabit the vicinity of waters and 

 marshes, and feed upon worms, which they pick up 

 on the surface, or, with their bills, dig from the 

 soft earth : on these they depend for their principal 

 support; but they also devour the various kinds of 

 insects which swarm in the mud of the wet boggy 

 grounds, which these birds chiefly frequent. They 

 migrate in flocks, but live in pairs during the 

 period of incubation ; they moult once a year; the 

 young differ little from the old birds, except in the 

 slighter curvature and the shortness of the bill. 

 The sexes do not differ. 



