56 NATUEAL HISTOEY OF 



whimbrel, and its merely passenger visits to our 

 coasts in spring, winter, and autumn, instead of the 

 constant residence of the former. It is said, that 

 in the north Scottish islands it is found to breed; 

 but little is known of its breeding stations; and 

 we think it a doubtful point, as the summer birds 

 that occasionally occur may have been stopped in 

 their passage. It was formerly, and may now be, 

 " a regular spring visitant in Ireland, in passage 

 northward, to return in autumn in much smaller 

 numbers," according to Thompson's " History." A 

 farmer, not many miles from Belfast, assured us ten 

 years ago, that he had shot some of these birds. It 

 is a pretty sight, on an unquiet day, when coming 

 upon an isolated part of the coast, to see a flock of 

 curlews and a smaller portion of whimbrels, gre- 

 gariously feeding together in the salt pools formed 

 among the shingles and sand-beds at ebb-tide. When 

 they fly, it is in the phalanx form, closely wedged 

 together, and dip low and high in the air, as though 

 they were diving in the water. The common curlew 

 skims more, with a sailing motion ; and the wings of 

 both varieties being long, pointed, and strong, are as 

 admirably adapted to fly high ; as the moor-hen; and 

 the gallinule's wings are ill constructed for length 

 or rapidity of motion. The differences of plumage 

 between these birds are slight. The crown of the 

 whimbrel is separated in the middle by a paler streak 

 of colour, the tips of the feathers being, for a broad 

 space, white, while on either side they have patches 



