CURRES AND SHORT-WINGED FOWL 103 



Again, " curres " comprise several distinct varieties, which 

 had best be subdivided into those keeping strictly to the open 

 sea, and those which sometimes come inland. 



The former revel in the waves, and when on wing seldom 

 rise any height above them, riding out the heaviest storm or 

 roughest water, which their more active confreres do not at 

 all relish, seeming to prefer the smoother water, and on any 

 violent atmospheric disturbance they at once make off to the 

 inland lakes or larger stretches of open water near the coast. 

 In speaking of them (the latter) as the more active it is in 

 allusion to their strength of wing, because, although they 

 scuffle up, rising heavily and obliquely, when once they are 

 fairly under way they fly with extraordinary rapidity, often 

 at great heights and distances, making at the time a rushing, 

 peculiar sound with their pinions, which is at variance with 

 the more musical whistle of long-winged fowl. 



The habitual method employed by " curres " in obtaining 

 their food is another peculiarity. They float on the tide 

 over their favourite feeding grounds, and when there happens 

 to be a very large " mob " of them, they make such a 

 tremendous noise diving and splashing after their food that 

 it resembles the noise produced by a cataract, and may be 

 heard during a calm, or in still weather, at incredible 

 distances. As soon as they have reached the utmost limits 

 of the mollusc bed they rise in batches, flying back again 

 to the utmost extremity of it, in order that they may once 

 more be carried down by the friendly tide. 



One of the largest, and perhaps best- known, resorts is off 

 the coast of Belgium and France, where " curres " may be 

 seen in thousands upon thousands nearly all the year round. 

 They may be observed when crossing the Channel, more par- 

 ticularly on the routes to Ostend, Calais or Dunkirk. In 

 some seasons vast packs visit the Suffolk and Norfolk coast, 

 apparently revelling in the fleet water and on the much- 

 dreaded outlying sandbanks. 



Another peculiarity in certain varieties of " curres " is 

 that they do not obtain their full plumage until they are 



