Nest, &c. 
64 GRALLATORES. NUMENIUS. Cvur.tew. 
extended circles round the place selected for nidification.— 
The nest is placed on the ground amongst heath, or coarse 
herbage, in a shallow part scraped in the ground, and lined 
with decayed grass and rushes. ‘The eggs are four in num- 
ber, placed with their large ends outwards, and the smaller 
meeting to a point in the centre of the nest; of a pale oil- 
green colour, blotched all over with two shades of brown. 
The young leave their place of birth as soon as hatched, 
and are then covered with a thick yellowish-white down, 
varied with spots and masses of brown. By degrees the 
feathers develope themselves, but the young birds are not 
sufficiently fledged to take wing till they are six or seven 
weeks old. During this period they are assiduously at- 
tended by their parents, who lead them to appropriate feed- 
ing-places, and by brooding over, protect them from the 
cold and wet. Under these circumstances Curlews lose the 
excessive shyness that characterises them at all other times, 
and when the young are approached, will fly close around 
the intruder, uttering their cry of courts in quick repeti- 
tion. Notwithstanding their natural wildness, when cap- 
tured, either young or adult, they soon become tame, as I 
have frequently experienced ; and Monracu, in the Supple- 
ment to his Ornithological Dictionary, confirms this, and has 
given a very interesting account of the habits and manners 
of the Curlew (under that head), when in a state of domes- 
tication, and to which I must refer my readers. ‘The flesh 
of these birds is excellent, being juicy and highly flavoured, 
and isin great estimation at the table. The geographical dis- 
tribution of the species is very extensive, it being found at 
certain periods upon most of the shores of the Old World. 
I have received specimens from India and the Delft Islands, 
which scarcely differ in any respect from our own. The 
Curlew of North America is, however, a distinct kind ; dis- 
tinguished by a different disposition of colours, and an ex- 
traordinary development of bill. 
