GLOSSY IBIS. CURLEW. 143 



have received the appellation of " Abou menzel," literally sig- 

 nifying " Father Sickle-bill," from the bill being curved like 

 that implement. The beautiful scarlet ibis, so much admired 

 in most museums, and which occurs plentifully along the great 

 rivers of tropical America, is also a member of this family. 

 Habitat Northern Africa. 



FAMILY XXX. SCOLOPACIDJE (SNIPES). 



GENUS LXXI. NUMENIUS (CURLEW). 

 SPECIES 134 THE CURLEW. 



Numenius arquata. Latham. 



Courlis cendre. Temm. 



Whaup. 



THE CURLEW is one of our most common and widely distri- 

 buted birds, frequenting the sea-shore in large flocks, and 

 feeding on marine insects, mollusca, Crustacea, and larvae, for 

 which it probes the soft muddy ooze with its long and admir- 

 ably adapted bill. 



In Dublin Bay the immense flocks of curlew afford conside- 

 rable attraction to the shore sportsman, both from their 

 changing evolutions when on the wing, and the fine, bold, 

 spirited call -note of the species. Watchful and vigilant, we 

 see no other shore bird exhibit the same suspicious habits as 

 the curlew, and, what annoys the sportsman is that, not con- 

 tent with its own safety, it extends its protection over all 

 the flocks feeding in its vicinity. Possessing the loudest call- 

 note of all our grallatorial birds, no flock is so adventurous as 

 to remain feeding after the shrill, startling whaup of the curlew 

 has echoed along the shore. 



Of great interest in its habits, the curlew enlivens and makes 

 cheerful whatever coast it frequents, no matter how desolate 

 may have been its previous appearance. Thus do we see it 

 in our own Bay during autumn and winter, occurring along 

 the entire shore range from Clontarf to Malahide, in flocks 

 of the greatest abundance. Feeding together, they present 

 the mpst diversified appearance in their attitudes upon the 

 mud or ooze. But yet so easily alarmed are they that the 

 sportive leap of a wanton fish, the rustling of a leaf blown 

 past upon the strand, or, when feeding during night-time, 

 the snapping of a gun in their neighbourhood, serves to alarm 



