CuassiIl. COMMON CURLEW. 
Their eggs* are of a pale olive color, marked 
with irregular but distinct spots of pale brown. 
Their flesh is very rank and fishy, notwithstand- 
ine an old Englsh proverb in its favor. 
_ Curlews differ much in weight and size ; some 
weighing thirty-seven ounces, others not twenty- 
two ; the length of the largest to the tip of the tail 
measures twenty-five inches ; the breadth three 
feet five inches. The bill is seven inches long ; 
the head, neck, and coverts of the wings, are of a 
pale brown; the middle of each feather black ; 
the breast and belly white, marked with narrow 
oblong black lines; the back is white, spotted 
with a few black strokes; the quil feathers are 
black, but the inner webs spotted with white ; 
the tail white, tnged with red and beautifully 
barred with black; the legs are long, strong, 
and of a bluish grey color; the bottoms of the 
toes flat and broad, to enable it to walk on the 
soft mud, in search of food. 
* << The Curlew lays her eggs, generally four in number, 
among long grass, on a few leaves carelessly drawn together. 
This species is found every where on the continent of Europe, 
and extends to Africa and India; a slight variety of it also in- 
habits America.” J. L. 
Descrie- 
TION. 
