622 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Gralla- 

 tores. 



on the approach of winter always migrates southwards, 

 otherwise it would assuredly form a splendid (it is even 

 'said a savoury) addition to our stock of domestic fowls. 1 



In the genus Numenius, Cuv., the bill is arched, as in 

 the preceding, but still more slender, and rounded through- 

 out its entire length, instead of being square at the base. 

 The extremity of the upper mandible extends beyond the 

 under one, and projects a little over it at the base. There 

 is an obvious palmation at the root of the toes. 



To this genus belong the curlews, — well-known birds, of 

 shy and wary habits, which, according to the season, haunt 

 either the hilly pastures or the sandy shores. The North 

 American species (N. longirostris, Wilson) is remarkable 

 for the extraordinary length of its bill. (See Plate CCCC. 

 fig. 3.) The common curlew of Britain (N. arquata) seems 

 to inhabit exclusively, during the breeding season, our up- 

 land moors and pastures, and descends to the sea-coasts in 

 winter. The smaller British species, called whimbrel (N. 

 pluBopus), seems scarcely known in England during sum- 

 mer, but is then frequent in the north of Scotland, where 

 it breeds. It is distinct from any of the American curlews, — 

 with one of which, however, it has sometimes been con- 

 founded. A nearly allied species, first described by M. Vieil- 

 lot under the title of Nlimenius tenuirostris, as a native of 

 Egypt, has been ascertained by C. L. Bonaparte to exist in 

 great numbers along the banks of the Tiber, where it occurs 

 during winter. It has also been discovered by Signor Savi 

 in the neighbourhood of Pisa, by Dr Pajola in the Venetian 

 territory, and by Professor Bonelli in Piedmont. We doubt 

 not it occurs occasionally in most parts of Europe (espe- 

 cially the eastern countries), although it escapes detection 

 in consequence of its strong resemblance to the common 

 whimbrel. Its distinctive phrase is — Numenius pileo ci- 

 cerino e nigro maculato : pennis longioribus ilium candi- 

 dis, immaculatis. 2 The small esquimaux curlew (N. bo- 

 realis, Lath, and Richardson) passes over a vast extent 

 of territory in its migrations, — breeding in the barren 

 lands within the arctic circle, and spending the winter in 

 Brazil. 



In the genus Scolopax, Cuv., containing the snipes and 

 woodcocks, the bill is very long, but straight, and pervaded 

 almost throughout its entire length by a nasal furrow. 

 The upper mandible is slightly inflated at the tip, which 

 is rather soft, and extremely delicate in its perceptions. 

 The feet are not palmated. The head is compressed, the 

 eyes large, and situate far back upon the head, — " ce qui,'' 

 says Cuvier, " leur donns un air singulierement stupide, 

 qu'ils ne dementent point par leurs mceurs." Now, though 

 the birds in question may want those accommodating in- 

 stincts which elevate the character of many other species al- 

 most into a semblance of reason, we are not aware that they 

 are in any way of defective intellect, that is, that their pro- 

 ceedings are at all discordant with self-preservation, the 

 enjoyment of their natural propensions, or the continuance 

 of their kind; and as to the position of the eye, whatever 

 may be its physiognomical effect, is it not admirably adapt- 

 ed to their general modes of life, and their particular habit 

 of plunging their bills into the mud of marshes, enabling 

 them so to do, and yet to keep a sharp look-out around 

 them ? Depend upon it, their eyes are in the right place, 

 and their large size cannot be otherwise than advantageous 

 to birds which feed by night. 



We have five British species of Scolopax, of which the 

 woodcock (iS 1 . rusticola) is the chief, a bird much admired 

 by epicures, who eat him, entrails and all, — a dirty practice, 

 we opine : but, de gustibus non disputandum est. During 



the day this species usually frequents the closest brakes, Gralla- 

 where the ground, from depth of shade, is nearly free from tores, 

 herbage. They abound most in thickets by the sides of v "" "V"~ 

 open glades, or where roads intersect; for by these they 

 pass to and from their feeding ground at evening and the 

 dawn of morn. " Unless disturbed," says Mr Selby, " they 

 remain quietly at roost upon the ground during the whole 

 day; but as soon as the sun is wholly below the horizon, 

 they are in full activity, and taking flight nearly at the same 

 instant, leave the woods and cover for the adjoining mea- 

 dows or open land, over which they disperse themselves, 

 and are fully engaged in search of food during the whole 

 night. Advantage has long been taken of this regular 

 mode of going to and returning from the feeding grounds 

 by the fowler, in those districts where woodcocks are 

 abundant, by suspending nets across the glades, or by the 

 sides of hedges, where they are observed to pass conti- 

 nually ; and though the adoption of the fowling-piece has 

 in general superseded the modes of capture formerly prac- 

 tised, great numbers are still taken in this manner in De- 

 vonshire and Cornwall. Another method of entrapping 

 woodcocks (as well as snipes) is by the springe, which is 

 set in places where those perforations made by the bill of 

 the woodcock in search of food, and technically called 

 borings, are observed to be most frequent. It is formed 

 of an elastic stick, of which one end is thrust into the 

 ground, the other having affixed to it a noose made of 

 horse-hair ; the stick being then bent down, this noose is 

 passed through a hole in a peg fastened to the ground, 

 and is kept properly expanded by means of a fine trigger, 

 so set as to be displaced by the slight pressure of the 

 bird's foot. To conduct them to this trap, a low fence of 

 twigs, or of stones placed so closely together as to leave 

 no passage through the interstices, is extended to some 

 distance on each side of the springe, and generally in an 

 oblique direction ; over which obstacle, however trifling, 

 it seems the birds never attempt to hop or fly, but keep 

 moving along it, till they approach the part occupied by 

 the noose of the springe : upon attempting to pass through 

 this apparently open space, they displace the trigger, and 

 are almost invariably caught by the noose, and retained 

 by the spring of the stick against the opposing peg. Day 

 being the woodcock's time for repose, it sits very close, 

 and is not easily flushed; the sportsman then requiring 

 the aid of the busy spaniel, or the bush in which it is en- 

 sconced to be actually beaten by an attendant, before it 

 will take wing. It rises, however, with much quickness, 

 and threads its way through the branches with great ra- 

 pidity, until the underwood and trees are fairly cleared, 

 when its flight becomes measured, and offers an easy aim 

 to the sportsman. When roused, it seldom flies to any 

 great distance, but alights in the first thicket that attracts 

 its attention, closing its wings, and dropping suddenly 

 down, and in such cases it is not unusual for it to run a 

 little way before it squats. Just before rising, upon be- 

 ing disturbed, or when running, it jerks its tail upwards, 

 partly expanding it, and fully showing the white that dis- 

 tinguishes the under surface of the tips of the tail-fea- 

 thers. In feeding, the woodcock inserts its bill deep into 

 the earth in search of worms, which are its favourite 

 and principal food. This instrument is most admirably 

 calculated for the offices it has to perform when thus im- 

 mersed in the soil ; for, in addition to its great length, it 

 possesses a nervous apparatus distributed over a great por- 

 tion of its surface, and especially on such parts as are 

 likely to come first into contact with its prey, giving it 



1 Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society. We do not know how it has happened that the wood-cut of the scarlet ibis in the 

 Trork just referred to is copied into Mr Nuttall's excellent Manual of American Ornithology, under the name of wood ibis, Tantalm 

 kculator, — a bird which belongs to a different genus. 



* Ornitologia Toscana, torn. ii. p. 324. 



