ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 395 



ries, especially those of Rubus trivialis or Dewberries, and Umpetrum 

 nigrum, on which they soon fatten. 



The spring is their season for breeding, and the northern regions the 

 place they prefer for this purpose. They are monogamous, lay four or 

 five pyriform eggs, which are deposited with little art on a few bits of 

 reeds or grass placed in the midst of tufts, or in small bushes, for shel- 

 ter ; sometimes they are merely dropped in sand-holes, or on wild open 

 shores. Both sexes sit on the eggs ; but the young receive little atten- 

 tion from their parents, and almost as soon as hatched provide for 

 themselves, without requiring their assistance. 



This genus, though by no means numerous in species, is not confined 

 to any particular regions of either continent ; but is distributed every- 

 where along the shores from the frozen regions of the North to those 

 of the South Pole, and they appear also in the torrid zone in winter. 

 Their migrations may be traced from North to South according to the 

 seasons. They pass the winter in our temperate regions, generally 

 returning in May from the South, and in September from the North. 



In the economy of nature, these birds seem to be of some importance 

 in preventing the superabundant multiplication of numerous marine 

 animals, thus assisting to maintain the equilibrium and preserve the 

 harmony of the Animal Kingdom ; as the Flycatching birds serve to 

 check the too great increase of land insects. It is perhaps on this 

 account that they are so generally diflFused. In relation to man they 

 appear to be of no less importance, since without being delicious, their 

 flesh is very palatable, and even, when they have fed and fattened on 

 berries, tender and excellent meat : when their nourishment has been 

 derived from the sea it is much inferior. They are pursued both in 

 Europe and America in various ways, and brought in numbers to the 

 city markets. In some districts their eggs are much sought after, but 

 those of other aquatic birds are mixed with them, and offered for sale 

 under the same name. 



Wherever the Curlews may be classed by ornithologists, their rank in 

 the system of Nature is at the head of the family Limicolce, which they 

 connect with the Falcati. Their linear place, therefore, is between the 

 genera Ibis of the latter, and Tringa of their own family : species of 

 the latter genus are so closely related to them as almost to fluctuate 

 between the two genera. There is a striking affinity on the one hand 

 between some species of Ibis and Numenius, and on the other between 

 the smaller Numenii and Tringce with slightly curved bills, such as 

 Tringa subarquata, and also those with semipalmated feet, but especially 

 when they combine both these characters, as our new Tringa Jdmanto- 

 pus. In their own very natural family, the Curlews are more immedi- 

 ately related to Tringa and Limosa, both in aspect and manners. The 



