240 



The accompanying observations were also contributed by Mr. Wright to Dr. Bree's ' Birds 

 of Europe ' : — 



" It arrives here on migration in the spring and autumn ; in both seasons I have shot it on 

 Fort-Manuel Island, whose low and muddy shores form one of the most attractive resorts for 

 Waders of all kinds during their passage. It also passes with others of the Scolopacidse in July. 

 I have noticed considerable variation in the size and length of bill (doubtless arising from age). 

 All those I have shot were single birds ; but they are also sometimes observed to pass in flocks. 

 They nest in meadows and heaths. They make a slight excavation, which they line with pieces 

 of grass and a little moss. They lay from three to four eggs." 



Herr A. von Homeyer (J. f. O. 1862, p. 427), who observed the present species in the 

 Balearic Isles, thus writes : — " This species breeds on the Prat, as I saw single individuals during 

 my stay throughout the summer. I did not find the nest, nor did I bring a skin back, but I saw 

 several stuffed specimens in private collections. It differs from Numenius airguata in frequenting, 

 like Buffs and Godwits, very wet places, even wading up to the belly in water. M. Julius 

 Lichtenstein, of Charlos, informed me that this bird breeds near the coast, between Valencia 

 and Barcelona, in suitable places not uncommonly, as also at Charlos itself. According to Rios 

 it is occasional and rare in Galicia." 



In Greece Lindermayer and Von der Miihle have both met with it. The former author 

 writes: — "I do not know when this Curlew arrives with us, as I have only killed it in March. 

 It is, however, certain that it breeds in our northern provinces." 



Von der Miihle likewise observes : — " This bird is commoner in Greece than the Whimbrel, 

 and appears to breed here, as I have shot stragglers in the summer, apparently seeking food, and 

 in August procured young birds on the coast. It leaves us at the end of September." 



Lord Lilford states : — 



"Two specimens only of this bird came under my observation at Corfu; both were killed on 

 the race-course, in September 1857. I obtained a good specimen at Nice in the winter of 1858." 



The present species is likewise found in Egypt ; but its exact limits in N.-E. Africa have not 

 yet been satisfactorily assigned. Dr. von Heuglin, writing in 185.6, gives its range as follows : — 

 " In autumn and spring on passage it is found along the Nile. It appears in Chartum as soon as 

 the end of August and the early part of September, and in April, on migration. In the latter 

 month large flocks were observed in the desert near Alexandria." In 'The Ibis' for 1859 he 

 also recorded it from the Bed Sea, but afterwards referred the bird thus observed to N. arcuatus, 

 and we must await his new work to see whether he still gives the same habitat for the present 

 species that he did in 1856. 



The eastward range of the Slender-billed Curlew is also not clearly defined. Von Nordmann 

 states that it is not rare in New Bussia, while Eversmann says that it is found nesting on the 

 steppes of Orenburg. It is doubtful if it ranges further east than is here mentioned. Mr. Cassin, 

 in his paper on the birds procured by Capt. Henderson at Hakodadi, speaks of a species of Curlew 

 to which no name is given. Mr. Swinhoe, in his list of the ' Birds of China,' refers to this bird 

 as the fourth in his list of Curlews, and says it is allied to N. tenuirostris, this latter fact not 

 being alluded to by Cassin. Mr. Blyth, commenting on the above statement, thus writes : — 



"Mr. Swinhoe (P. Z. S. 1863, pp. 317, 318) gives as many as nine species of Curlew (one or 



