52 



ELEMENTS OF OENITHOLOfiT. 



coasts. Curlews ruu and walk with ease, though they take to 

 flight at the least alarm and fly away very quickly. In summer 

 they migrate inland to heaths and marshes, where their loud 

 screaming cries are very noticeable. The genus to which it 

 belongs is cosmopolitan, though it only breeds in Northern 

 regions. It contains about a dozen species, one of which is the 

 "Whimbrel. 



The long and curved beak of the Curlew may well recall to 



Fig. 52. 



The Whimbrel {Nvmeniiis phsopts). 



the reader's recollection the similarly long and curved beak of 

 the Ibis. One species of the genus, the Glossy Ibis (Ibisfald- 

 nellus), inhabits Africa and Europe as well as America, so it is 

 not wonderful that it is sometimes seen in England. There 

 are about two dozen kinds of these birds, whereof the Sacred 

 Ibis (Ibis mihiopica) is the most renowned. Though so familiar 

 an object in ancient Egyptian art, it is now rarely seen on the 

 Nile north of Khartoum. The Scarlet Ibis of South America 

 {Ibis rubra) is the most beautiful form. 



