AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 105 



me two in 1838 from the Cornish moors, which, as 

 he assured me, formed part of a laying of six ; very 

 possibly the produce of two females. 



162. WHIMBREL 



Numenius pliceopus. 



A considerable number of Whimbrels pass south- 

 wards along the valley of the Nen towards the end of 

 summer in the neighbourhood of Lilford ; the earliest 

 date at this season that I find recorded in my note- 

 books is August 23rd, the latest September 17th. 

 During the first fortnight of May a few of these birds 

 appear in our district bound northwards ; but on 

 this passage I never heard of more than six in a 

 flock, whereas in August and September I have once 

 seen, and several times heard of, flocks of from sixty 

 to eighty or more passing over high in air. In my 

 experience I never saw a Whimbrel on the ground 

 in our county, and am convinced that on the south- 

 ward migration they hardly ever alight near Lilford, 

 but on the other hand 1 have been assured of a few 

 instances of their doing so in May. The only record 

 of the capture of one of these birds in Northampton- 

 shire in my possession was published in the ' Midland 

 Naturalist ' by Mr. O. V. Aplin, and refers to a 

 specimen obtained near Thorpe Mandeville on May 

 16th, 1881. In general appearance and habits the 

 AVhimbrel closely resembles the Curlew, but, as 

 stated in Yarrell, is so much smaller than that 

 bird as to be known in many parts of the country by 

 the epithets of Half-, or Jack-Curlew. It appears 

 that this bird has not been discovered as breeding in 



