184 CURLEW. 



and eight-tenths ; round the body fourteen inches. The bill is gently 

 curved, made more like that of the Curlew than any other, pale red ; 

 beneath the throat hangs a wattle of the same colour, bare, appearing 

 rough, or carunculated ; the feathers of the hindhead elongated, and 

 form a crest, which hangs downwards; the general colour of the 

 bird, except the dependent wattle, is pale grey, inclining to lead- 

 colour, but the wing coverts are margined with white, and the inner 

 ones wholly white, forming a large bed on half the wing, next the 

 body; quills and tail darker than the rest, and inclining to blue, the 

 tail even at the end, and the quills reach almost to the tip; legs 

 stout, bare but very little above the joint, pale dull red, the claws 

 pale, and crooked. 



Inhabits Abyssinia, met with at Dinar, M umsai, and other places ; 

 frequently seen in numbers, in marshy spots, and low grounds ; 

 subsisting in great part on worms, and by no means shy, being not 

 easily frightened from the places where they are found; though when 

 disturbed, have a croaking kind of noise, not unlike that of a 

 Raven ; are fond of roosting among the shady branches of trees : 

 the flesh is tender, and well tasted. The Abyssinian name is Der- 

 homai, or Water Fowl, from Derho, a bird, and Mai, water. 



I am indebted to Mr. Salt for the above information, as well as 

 a drawing of the bird.* I found a figure likewise among the 

 drawings of the late Mr. Bruce, which did not essentially differ; 

 he says, that the irides are pale yellow. 



* See Lord Valentia's Travels, ii. 495. & iii. 205, 



