A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
When other fowl are sorely pinched by 
severe weather the curlew contrives to retain 
condition, while at all seasons it retains the 
same jaunty air of self-sufficiency. The late 
Mr. Seebohm fancied that the curlew was a 
bird of solemn gait, ‘only occasionally run- 
ning’ (British Birds; vol. iii. p. 95), but this 
is a misapprehension. Ifa curlew desires to 
shift his feeding ground he runs all the way, 
and if he chances to be in a bit of a hurry he 
runs very fast indeed. One would have 
rather expected him to take a short flight, but 
this he leaves for gulls todo. The webbed 
feet of the Laride are not so well adapted for 
rapid progression over a flat surface as the long 
toes of the curlew. Moreover, if you watch 
the curlew in repose you will see that its body 
feathers do not cling closely to the bird as 
artists often suggest, but are only packed 
together sufficiently closely to supply an 
adequate degree of warmth. The long man- 
dibles are chiefly utilized for boring and prob- 
ing purposes, but they are also serviceable 
in enabling the curlew to preen its plumage 
with great care. The feathers of the back 
and shoulders are first arranged; the tail is 
then bent to one side, and each of the rectrices 
is carefully passed through the bill ; the head 
is then drawn backwards to enable the bird to 
dress the feathers of the breast with the tips 
of the mandibles. Having completed its toilet 
a curlew shakes itself to get rid of any particles 
of sand that may have adhered to its feathers, 
and flaps its wings with an air of relief. It 
then trips forward to the edge of a little 
streamlet of water and plunges its long bill 
into the damp sand, bringing up a worm 
which is either bolted summarily or dipped 
into the water and cleansed before being 
allowed to enter its gullet. Delicate as the 
hearing of the curlew no doubt must be, and 
exquisite as its sense of touch certainly is, it 
would be an error to suppose that the curlew 
is always successful in securing its prey at the 
first stroke. Often you will see the bird 
bend forward to listen, and a moment later 
the beak descends like a flash into the sand, 
only to be withdrawn empty; the second 
stroke may be successful, in which case the 
worm is drawn up like a cork out of a bottle, 
firmly held between the tips of the mandibles ; 
the curlew tosses it into the air, picks it up, 
tosses it again, picks it up, carries it to the 
water, dips it in the liquid brine, and swallows 
it with the air of a connoisseur. But if the 
worm is deeply lodged, success is not so easily 
obtained ; I have seen a curlew make seven 
different strokes into the same hole before he 
secured the struggling worm and brought it 
safely to the surface, When shifting its 
quarters to any considerable distance the cur- 
lew generally flies nearly in a straight line and 
at a moderate height with slow and steady 
strokes of the wing ; but as it draws near to 
the point upon which it intends to alight the 
beats of its wing become less marked and the 
bird almost glides along. When journeying 
between its feeding grounds on the coast and 
the moors which it frequents at other times, 
the curlew occasionally flies at a great elevation, 
I have often heard the whistle of this bird 
ringing through the air on a clear frosty day, 
and have been astonished to find that it pro- 
ceeded from a bird that had mounted high 
in the heavens. When the season of love 
arrives, curlews delight to rise in the air and 
sport amorously on the wing together, soaring 
round and round at a great height, or flying 
to meet their mates, when their bills appar- 
ently touch caressingly as they unite and 
separate. The curlew breeds on many of 
our hills and fell-sides, but a few pairs also 
nest near our seaboard. 
221. Whimbrel. Numenius pheopus (Linn.). 
Locally, May-Bird, Curlew-Knave, Jack- 
Curlew. 
A spring and autumn visitant ; but very . 
few individuals appear to alight upon our shores 
during the autumn migration, preferring to 
cheer us with their familiar notes, uttered on 
the wing as they pass over, to resting in their 
spring haunts. A few immature birds fre- 
quent the salt marshes in August and Sep- 
tember, and I once handled a local specimen 
in winter ; but the whimbrel is much better 
known as a spring visitant. 
222. Black Tern. Hydrochelidon nigra (Linn.). 
A spring and autumn migrant. The birds 
obtained at the latter season are almost exclu- 
sively birds of the year in the usual incon- 
spicuous dress. A lovely adult in summer 
livery was sent to me in the flesh in June, 1890. 
It had been killed with a catapult while flying 
over the Esk near Floriston. Immature birds 
have been procured inland on several occasions, 
as happened in 1898, when I identified a 
young bird which had been killed near Kes- 
wick in October. 
223. Sandwich Tern. Sterna cantiaca, Gmelin. 
Locally, Cat-Swallow. 
A summer visitant to our coast, occasionally 
entering the waters of the Solway Firth, but 
restricted as a breeding bird to Drigg, where 
I have studied their nesting operations for 
many years. Several varieties of colouration 
are displayed by the eggs of this breeding 
station, some of the specimens being very rich 
in blotchings. ‘The young, which correspond 
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