SLENDER-BILLED CURLEW. 3 



In Spain, according to Mr. Howard Saunders (Ibis, 1871, p. 389), 

 it is not uncommon (by printer's error "common") from Marcli 

 onwards, and Colonel Irby, in bis recently published work on tbe 

 "Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar," states that it occurs there 

 in spring and autumn. 



Mr. J. H. Gurney, in a note dated July 22nd., 1872, writes to me, 

 "When at Ghent last year, M. La Fontaine, Curator of the Museum 

 there, gave me a specimen of iNT. tenui7'osti^is , which he bought in the 

 flesh in Ghent market, in November, 1866, and which he told me 

 was the only Belgian specimen that had come under his observation. 

 The dark pear-shaped spots on the flanks are remarkably distinct in 

 this specimen." 



In many parts of Africa the Slender-billed Curlew is not uncom- 

 mon, — as Algeria, Egypt, and Nubia. Mr. Salvin ("Ibis," vol. i, 

 p. 359,) met with flocks of this bird on several occasions, and he 

 shot one on a plain near El Djan. Canon Tristram states ("Ibis," 

 vol. ii, p. 80,) that he saw one shot by a French officer at 

 Oumache, near Biskra. The same naturalist also thinks that he saw 

 it in Southern Palestine. 



^'The Slender-billed Curlew," says Mr. Harting, "has been often 

 confounded with the Whimbrel, and its occurrence no doubt has been 

 passed over from its general resemblance to that bird. N. tenuirostris 

 is, however, altogether a smaller species than N. phceopus, and has 

 not the two dark bars upon the head, which are conspicuous in the 

 latter bird. In this respect it resembles the Common Curlew. The 

 under wing coverts are pure white, whereas in the Whimbrel they 

 are spotted; while the markings on the breast and flanks are distinct 

 and pear-shaped in this species — not streaked as in the Whimbrel." 



The following are the dimensions and short description of two birds 

 sent me from Malta by Mr. C. A. Wright: — No. 1. — Length seven- 

 teen inches; wing from carpus ten inches and a half; bill from 

 rictus along upper curvature, three inches and a half; circumference 

 at base one inch and four fifths; under wing and tail coverts 

 white; upper tail coverts white^ with longitudinal brown markings, 



shaped thus =<^ ^ > ; tail white, barred with brown; 



head streaked with brown; with a circlet of light grey feathers 

 round the eyes; throat white; sides of head and neck finely streaked 

 longitudinally with brown; breast white, thickly streaked with longi- 

 tudinal marks and cordate spots; back dark brown, the feathers lighter 

 on their edges; upper wing coverts lighter, with dark brown transverse 

 bands; primaries dark brown, the shaft of the first white. No. 2. — 

 Length sixteen inches and four fifths; wing from carpus nine inches 



