AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 103 



grouse-shooting season, and may then be found 

 for a short time in small parties, frequenting the 

 meadows and grass pastures on the moor edges ; at 

 this time of year these birds are well worth powder 

 and shot, and I have now and then got in both 

 barrels with effect by stalking up under cover of the 

 rough stone walls that divide the fields, or by having 

 the Curlews driven over me. The greater part of 

 our home-bred Curlews find their way to the coast 

 by September, some are to be found there throughout 

 the summer, many come to us across the North Sea, 

 and in many favourite spots in the three Kingdoms 

 more or less of these well-known birds can be found 

 at all seasons. As I have previously stated, no bird 

 is more difficult to approach in ordinary circumstances 

 than the Curlew, and although a few shots may now 

 and then be obtained at the long strings of these 

 birds, by hiding up in their line of flight to and from 

 the muds and sands that form their favourite feeding- 

 ground during low-water time, they soon learn to 

 avoid any spot from which they have been fired at, and 

 once on their feeding-ground bid defiance to all their 

 enemies except experienced managers of punts and 

 big guns ; and even these artists often find that 

 working up to a flock of Curlews is, to use a vulgar 

 expression, by no means " everybody's money," more 

 especially as when the birds are feeding on the 

 sea-shores or saltings, their flesh is barely eatable. 

 According to Yarrell our Curlew, or some very 

 closely allied form of Numenius, is to be found in 

 suitable localities according to the season from 

 Scandinavia to S. Africa, and from Lisbon to Japan ; 

 I do not find any record of its having been known to 

 breed further to the south than Brittany, but I have 



