SLENDER-BILLED CURLEW. 55 



one inch and a half; beak two inches and seven tenths, (circum- 

 ference at base one inch;) length of keel of sternum two inches 

 and a half; depth at highest part one inch and one tenth; breadth 

 of sternum superiorly one inch, inferiorly one inch and a fifth. 



The Slender-billed Curlew is a permanent inhabitant 

 of Sicily, and is found accidentally in Greece, Italy, 

 and in the south and north of France. In Sicily M. 

 Malherbe informs us that this bird is the commonest 

 of the three species, and Degland suggests the proba- 

 bility of its breeding in that island as well as in 

 Italy. Count Miihle states, in his " Ornithologie 

 Griechenlands," that it is as plentiful as the Whimbrel 

 in Greece; and he thinks that it builds there, as he 

 has observed single birds seeking food in summer, and 

 has shot young ones in August on the sea-shore. He 

 says it migrates the end of September, 



Dr. Lindermayer, in his "Vogel Griechenlands," says 

 he does not know the periods of its migrations, as he 

 has only killed it in JNIarch: nevertheless it is certain 

 that it breeds in the northern provinces. Baldamus, 

 in "Naumannia" for 1852, says that it is plentiful, and 

 nests in Greece and the southern provinces of Italy. 

 He killed some specimens some years ago, which were 

 then considered as a chance deviation from the 

 WhimbreL Lord Lilford, ("Ibis," vol. ii., p. 345,) 

 records its occurrence at Corfu. In Italy, Temminck 

 notices its occurrence near Rome, in Venice, and Pisa. 

 Savi confirms this statement, but that it is very rare 

 in Tuscany; and Prince Charles Bonaparte says, in 

 the "Fauna Italica," that it is not uncommon on the 

 marshes which lie near the banks of the Tiber. In 

 France it has been captured in Piedmont, according 

 to Bonelli. Degland records its occurrence in the 

 neighbourhood of Montpcllicr, Nimes, and Calais; and 



