CURLEW. 177 



Numenius minor, Bris. v. 317. t. 27. 1. Id. 8vo. ii. 291. Gerin. iv. 441. Bartram's 



Trav. p. 292. 

 Arquata minor, Rail, 103. A. 2. 0*i//; 217. 

 Der Regenvogel, Bechst. Deutsch.m. s. 80. Naturf.xm. 210. 

 Corlieu, ou petit Courlis, £;{/'. viii. 27. PI. enl. 842. 

 Whimbrel, Gen. Syn. v. 123. Br. Zoo/, ii. No. 177. pi. G4. Id.fol.U9. Id. 1812. ii. 



p. 36. pi. 9. Tour in Scotl. 4to. p. 130. Id. 8vo. 108. Arct. Zool. ii. 4G2. ff«7/. 



Engl.294. Edw. p. 307. /"/or. Sco<. i. p. 32. Bewick, ii. pi. p. 57. £,e««B,iv. 



pi. 154. /</. pi. xxvi. No. 2. the egg. Wale. ii. pi. 154. Donov. iii. t. 72. Orn. 



.Dicf. (§• S«pp. 



LENGTH seventeen inches; breadth twenty-nine; the weight 

 fourteen ounces and a half. Bill three inches long, black ; the base 

 beneath pale red; head, neck, and breast pale brown, streaked with 

 dusky brown ; chin white ; the sides of the head paler than the rest ; 

 between the bill and eye a dusky streak ; all the upper parts of the 

 body and wing coverts pale brown, streaked with dusky down the 

 shafts ; besides which many have pale spots on the margins ; the 

 lower part of the back and rump white ; upper tail coverts white, 

 with dusky bars; tail brown, crossed with seven or eight darker 

 bars; quills dusky black, with semicircular, dusky white spots on 

 the inner webs, the shafts white; belly, thighs, and vent, dusky 

 white; legs black. It varies both in respect to the length of the bill, 

 as well as the size of the bird ; many specimens measuring no more 

 than fifteen inches. Mr. Pennant mentions one sixteen inches long, 

 in which the bill was only two inches. 



The Whimbrel has much the manners of the Curlew, but is less 

 common in England, and is locomotive, if not migratory ; at least 

 it passes from one part of the kingdom to another, according to the 

 season. 



In the neighbourhood of Spalding, in Lincolnshire, is seen in 

 vast flocks, from April to May, on its passage to the north, where 

 it is said to breed ; is also in flocks about the same time on the 

 Kentish coast, generally coming about the 15th of April, and staying 

 till the first week in May, and then goes off till the winter ; and it 

 may be, that the greater part pass elsewhere, yet many remain, as 



VOL. IX. A A 



