SCOLOPACIDA. 627 
THE COMMON CURLEW. 
NuMENIuUS aRQUATA (Linnzus). 
This species is to be found during the whole year wherever sand 
and mud-flats or rocks covered with sea-weed are left exposed by the 
receding tide ; for even in spring, when the adults retire inland, their 
places are taken by a few immature birds which remain during the 
summer. The Curlew still breeds on the moors of Cornwall, Devon 
and Somerset, sparingly in Dorset, Wilts and Hants, ‘freely in 
Wales and the neighbouring cpunties, and on the high ground 
northwards (including the Isle jof Man) as far as the Border; also 
on low-lying heaths, such as Thorne Waste in South Yorkshire. 
It is even more generally distributed over the mainland of Scotland, 
as well as in the Orkneys and Shetlands, but is not positively known 
to nest in the Outer Hebrides, though it occurs there in autumn and 
winter. In Ireland it is common throughout the year. 
The Curlew is only a straggler to the Feeroes, and is almost 
unknown in Iceland, where its representative in summer is the 
Whimbrel ; but it breeds more or less plentifully in Scandinavia, 
Russia, Poland, North Germany, Denmark, Holland and Flanders, 
302 
