")06 THE BIRDS OF DEVON. 



within range of some carefully chosen ambnsh, A good many Curlews 

 nest on the rough moory hills in Xorth Devon. In May 1800 we came 

 across several pairs on the high ground above North Molton, called North 

 Molton Ridge, and we have information of nests near Bradworthy. We 

 sat for some time one day on a stone close by the side of a Curlew's nest, 

 and after a little while the two old birds, which had been gradually 

 approaching nearer and nearer, plaintively whistling, came and perched 

 on stones on either side of us. We were greatly amused at having 

 these wary " lang nehbit thinr/s " reduced to this state of tameness, and, 

 as we sat watching their anxiety, felt as if we were paying out the whole 

 Curlew race in their persons for many a stalk after wild duck which had 

 been baffled by the ill-omened scream of some prying Curlew, putting up 

 our birds just at the critical moment when a few more yards of crawling 

 over the mud would have resulted in a successful shot. The Curlews are 

 always the 6rst birds to take wing, as the gunner is drifting in his boat 

 towards the edge of the shore, where perhaps he has marked a nice lot of 

 Wigeon and Teal resting, and their loud cries make all the other birds 

 uneasy, and almost certain to rise before a shot can be obtained. Many 

 Curlews breed on Erown Willy and Roughtor, in the centre of Cornwall, 

 and Mr. Rodd states that the moormen search eagerly for the young birds, 

 which are considered great delicacies. In Dorset some are known to breed 

 near Wareham. 



[^Observation. — Mr. Thomas Cornish, of Penzance, recorded in the ' Zoolo- 

 gist ' for 1887, p. 388, an adult example of an Es(|uimaux Curlew, Ninnenius 

 horealls (J. R. Forster), a wanderer from North America, which had been 

 obtained at Trcsco, on the Scilly Isles, September 10th that year, and 

 is now in the collection of Mr. Dorien-Smith at Tresco Abbey. It was 

 in company with a Whiml)rel when shot. The Esquimaux Curlew bears 

 a superficial resemblance to a small Whimbrcl, but may at once be dis- 

 tinguished by the arrow-head markings on its breast and flanks. Dr. 

 Coues states that it migrates through the Missouri region of the United 

 States in immense flocks in May. He met with it also in Labrador, 

 where it is very abundant, the flocks being easily enticed within gunshot 

 by an imitation of their oft-repeated, mellow whistle. The birds feed 

 almost entirely on the crowberry (Empetrum nigrum). Their nesting- 

 station is in Arctic America, where they breed in great numbers in the 

 Anderson River region (' Birds of the North- West,' p. 512).J 



