THE CURLEW 289 



with sea-weed left high and dry at ebb-tide. It is with 

 us during the entire year, for when the old birds go 

 inland in spring, the young birds take their place and 

 remain for the summer. /As long as the young birds 

 remain on the moors and pastures, their food consists 

 of berries, insects, spiders, worms, and snails, and they 

 then become excellent for the table; but after feeding 

 near the sea, they become unpalatable. 



Its plumage, mottled, speckled, and cut up with 

 broken tones of brown grey white and light red, makes 

 it look like a Plover when squatted, unless its long 

 scythe-shaped bill can be detected, a most difficult 

 matter when in that position. It is wary in the extreme; 

 morning, noon, and night on the alert. That it is 

 brought to bay at times is certainly no fault of its own, 

 but is mainly due to its surroundings. 



The Curlew is a most interesting bird, see it when you 

 may, on some upland with the sheep, in the grass 

 meadows, or on the shore, when huge dark storm-clouds 

 roll in from open water, a gale blowing, and the white 

 parts of its plumage showing like large snowflakes as 

 the bird and its companions are driven shrieking and 

 wailing in all directions, or in the calm, still days of 

 early autumn. 



' From a fishing smack," says " A Son of the 

 Marshes," I have watched it probing for lug-worms, 

 running nimbly or walking sedately on the mingled 

 sand and ooze. 



Curlews allow themselves to be blown, or drifted only, 

 when waiting over some favourite feeding-ground, before 

 the tide has sufficiently left for them to feed. I have 

 repeatedly watched mobs of them, waiting for the tide, 

 when a heavy gale has been blowing. The birds know 



