pretty regularly in September, but are very seldom to be 

 seen on the ground, and in Marcli and April a few visit 

 us, generally singly or in pairs, on their return passage, 

 occasionally remaining for a fe\Y days in our water- 

 meadows. I imagine that there are very few districts in 

 Great Britain or Ireland in which the Curlew is not to 

 be met with either as a breeding species, an occasional 

 visitor, or an autumnal and winter-resident, though, no 

 doubt, to the majority of Englishmen the bird is chiefly 

 associated with the wildest and least frequented parts of 

 our sea-shores and estuaries. The nest of this species is 

 an artless arrangement of dry rushes and grass, generally 

 well concealed : the eggs, very large for the size of the 

 bird, are of a dull olive-green with brown blotches and 

 spots ; I have now and then found young Curlews 

 almost full-grown, but unable to fly, as late as the first 

 week in August. The parent-birds are very bold and 

 clamorous when their young are approached, and will 

 attack a dog in this circumstance, but seldom approach 

 within gunshot range of a man. A few Curlews may 

 be killed by lying up concealed in their line of flight to 

 and from their feeding-grounds at the ebb and flow of 

 the tide, but they soon learn to avoid dangerous spots, 

 and either change their route or fly at a safe height from 

 the ground ; their food consists of the creeping, crawling, 

 and wriggling animals that are to be found on the sands 

 and muds at low-water time, and on the upland moors 

 they feed principally upon earth-worms, beetles, and 

 various berries. The ordinary cry of the Curlew is 

 fairly well represented by its English name with the first 

 syllable dwelt upon and prolonged, but it has a variety 



