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Book III. PartL Section IV. 

 Jf^ater-fowl not pifchorous ypith yerylong, (lender 7 croofyd 'Bills. 



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Chap. I. -$ I. 



The Curlew : Numenius five Arquata. 



T He Female weighed twenty eight ounces 5 the Male, which is (bmewhatlefs 

 and commonly called, The Jack, Curlew, twenty five and a quarter. The 

 length of. the Female from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws was 

 twenty nine inches : To the end of the Tail twenty three and an half. The diftance 

 of the tips of the Wings fpread forty inches. 



The middle parts of the feathers of the Head, Neck, and Back are black, the 

 borders or outrides afh-coloured, with a mixture of red. In the Throat and B'reaft 

 the middle; parts or (hafts of the feathers are black, the borders or edges, in the Bread 

 white, hi the Throat white, with a tin&ure of red. The Chin is not fpotted. The 

 Rump and Belly are white. 



The fathers inverting the underfide of the Wing are all white :" the firft or outmoit 

 quil-feathers all over black, the reft (potted with white. The firft feather of the (e- 

 cond row is all black: the' tigs, of the eighth or ninth next are white. This Bird 

 Jfathafmall, (ha rp-poifttfd,*blai3fc feather at the end of the Wing, which whether or 

 no it is to be reckoned among the quil-feathers one may juftly doubt. 



* in fome Its Bill 'is * very long, narrow, bowed,of a dark brown or black colour : Its' Tongue 

 mS m half fl 13 *?* an< l ver y fhort, extending not further than the angle of the lower Chap : The 

 k fome above Nofthrils long: The Leg*long^ of a4usky blue colour, bare of feathers half up the 

 to- fecond joynt : The Claws (mall and black : That of the middle Toe thinned into an 



edge on the infide : All the Toes conneded by a thick membrane from the divaricati- 

 on to the firft joynt. It hath a great Gall-bladder, with a long neck extending to the 



* pwjh bila- gut, whictfconcurs not in one common palTage with the * Gall-pore, but enters the 

 gut at a diftinct hole, though near to that. 



It hath a mufculous Stomach or Gizzard like grarrivoroUs birds: In the Stomach of 

 one we found Periwinkle (hells, fmall ftones, and grit, &c. in anothers Frogs, &c. 

 The fingle blind gut is very long : The common blind gut three or four inches long, 

 * and full of excrements. Above the Stomach the Gullet is dilated into a bag, granu- 

 lated within withthick-fet papillary glandules. 



This bird for the goodnefs and delicate tafte of its flefh may juftly challenge the 

 principal place among Water-fowl : Of this our Fowlers are not ignorant , and 

 therefore fell them d ear. They have a Proverb among them in Suffolk.: 

 A Curlew, be fie white, be fie black.-, 

 She carries twelve pence on her back: 

 It is a Sea-fowl, feeking its food on the Sands and Ouze, and in fait Marfhes: It is 

 found on the Sea-coafts on all (ides of England. 



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TheWhimbrel: Arquata minor, at Venice Taraniolo. 



T His bird, the bignefs excepted, is very like the Curlew. It weighs twelve 

 ounces. The meafure from Bill to Tail was feventeen inches, to .the end of 

 the Feet twenty : Of the Wings (pread thirty three and an half. The Bill three inches 

 long : The blind guts two: T^ie guts twenty nine. Its Legs were greenilh : The quil- 

 feathers marked with great, iemicircular, white (pots. The leffer rows of covert- 

 feathers had their edges white, their middle parts of a reddifh black. The Belly 

 and Thighs were white. 



Mv.Johnfon ofBrignal, in his Papers communicated to us, defcribesthis Bird by the 

 name of a Whimbrel thus. It is lefs by half than the Curlew, hath a crooked Bill, but 

 {hotter by an inch and more : The Crown deep brown without fpeckles : The Back 

 under the Wings white, which the Curlew hath not. Befides, the colour of the whole 

 body is more duskifh or dull. It is found upon the Sands in the Teez mouth. 



The 



