GREAT CURLEW AND WHIMBREL 65 



coarse feeders. A well-fed Gull has a coat of fat on 

 the body, take that off before cooking, and you may 

 wish you had more of Gull. 



A long-billed bird uses his bill with as much 

 dexterity as a short-billed one, only for a dif- 

 ferent purpose. The Curlew's food is varied to 

 a degree ; it consists of small creatures left in the 

 tide-pools, some of them not more than one inch 

 deep in water, sand-worms and hoppers. When 

 he leaves the tide for the upland pastures, small 

 snails and insects form his fare, worms also, and 

 on the moors some of the wild berries in their 

 season. 



In Scotland this bird is called the Whaup, and it 

 is considered in some shape or way as a feathered 

 evil ; why, I have not yet been able to learn, although 

 the legendary lore of Scotland has interested me for 

 many years. The old form of supplication to be 

 delivered from all " lang-nebbed things o' evil," 

 included the wary Curlews. Witches and warlocks 

 were always represented as having long hooked 

 noses, and the Curlew has a long curved bill ; but 

 the real reason I should imagine would be that wild 

 cry of the bird when heard through the mist, the 

 bird itself being unseen. In time no doubt this 

 superstition about the Whaup will die out, but not 

 yet awhile. England too has some superstitious 

 views of bird life that are in full force still. There 

 is a folk-lore of natural life common to the United 

 Kingdom that one would be very sorry to see pass 

 away. No true naturalist yet but what was well 



