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The present species is by no means uncommon in the countries bordering the Mediterranean, 

 but is of rarer occurrence in more northern latitudes. It has once been obtained in the island of 

 Sylt, off the Danish coast ; and this we believe to be its highest northern range yet known. A 

 single instance has been recorded of its capture in Holland (it is mentioned by Professor Schlegel as 

 having been killed near Spaamdam on the 5th of December, 1856) ; but it has twice been obtained 

 in Belgium, and is supposed to have bred there once, near St. Froud, as stated by Baron de Selys- 

 Longchamps. In France, according to MM. Degland and Gerbe, " it has been procured near 

 Montpellier, Nimes, and Marseilles in autumn, near Calais in February 1840. We have seen 

 at the house of Dr. Lesauvage, in Caen, and in the museum of that town, specimens killed on 

 the marshes of Calvados, and have several times seen it on the marshes of Paris, near the Bay of 

 Somme, and in other parts of Picardy." 



Baron J. W. von Miiller states that it passes Provence singly in autumn ; and in the south 

 of France MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy de la Pommeraye observe that " it is found in spring 

 in pairs or small flocks, and is brought to the Marseilles markets, where the other Curlews are 

 rare. It breeds on the edges of the marshes." 



The following note has been published by Bailly, with regard to its occurrence in Savoy : — 



"Early in October 1846, a flock of from six to eight individuals of this species alighted 

 on the gravelly banks of the Jere, near Chambery. After resting a short time they began 

 searching for food, running with great agility on the gravel after insects, which fled on their 

 approach, and going into the water up to the knee in search of small shell-fish. One was 

 shot; and the rest flew off, and were soon lost to view. An adult male, shot on the 8th 

 of September, 1852, at Villascher, was brought to me by a sportsman, who found it in a 

 maize-field." 



Naumann says it is found in Dalmatia and on the Austrian coasts, perhaps less rarely than 

 has hitherto been supposed. 



In Italy the Slender-billed Curlew is not rare. Savi records it from Piedmont, Venice, and 

 the neighbourhood of Pisa, where also Mr. Giglioli has observed it. The latter gentleman 

 says : — " I had the pleasure of seeing several on an island at the Bocca d' Arno. Their presence 

 in Tuscany appears to be accidental ; for at times they come in great numbers, becoming after- 

 wards extremely scarce." Prince Bonaparte, who has given a figure of the present species, which 

 cannot be very highly recommended for accuracy, in the ' Fauna Italica,' considers it not uncom- 

 mon in the marshes near the Tiber; and Malherbe records it as the "most common Curlew in 

 Sicily. Near Messina and Palermo it is often seen in the spring, and during winter is common 

 in several parts of Sicily, particularly near Catania and Syracuse." 



Dr. Carl Bolle found it in Spain occasional and rare. He observed it on the island of 

 Cortegada, near the Rio de Arosa, in August and September. Major Irby considers it an 

 autumnal migrant in Andalucia, where it is 'common in winter; and Mr. Howard Saunders 

 writes to us as follows : — 



" I observed Numenius tenuirostris in Andalucia on several occasions in spring. I have no 

 positive knowledge of its breeding-haunts, but on the 25th of May I observed a pair frequenting 

 a small brackish lake in the hills of Arragon, and probably breeding, though I was unable to 

 discover their eggs." 



