BIRDS 407 



skulking in the heather, while the parents vociferate their loud 

 distress, flying away from their young. They more often nest 

 at the side of a moss than in the centre, but adhere tenaciously 

 to their breeding-grounds. Some odd pairs nest on rough 

 pasture lands, preserving the traditions of the race of Curlews 

 which were wont to nestle on the same spot when the now 

 enclosed meadow formed part of an extensive moorland. The 

 Curlew sometimes nests upon the salt marshes ; at least a pair 

 nested on Kockliffe marsh in 1889 and 1890, though their eggs 

 were, unfortunately, taken in both years. It is fair to add that 

 this is the only instance of the kind known to me. 



When the young have feathered they still frequent the moors 

 until strong on the wing, and then seek the estuaries. There 

 is probably no part of our coast where you will not see them 

 occasionally in twos and threes, but they assemble in consider- 

 able numbers where food is plentiful. Their wariness renders 

 it difficult to shoot them, except when they are flighting from 

 one part of the marsh to another. They generally calculate 

 their distance pretty accurately, but sometimes seem to trust to 

 speed rather than to distance, and suffer accordingly. They are 

 more plentiful than most birds on the upper marshes of the 

 Solway, especially upon the Esk. When the tide has 

 nearly ebbed, numbers of Curlews can be seen any September 

 day feeding on the sandbanks and scars near Floriston, from 

 five or six up to forty in a party. It is generally on a dark, 

 stormy night in ' the fall ' that we listen to the piercing whistle 

 of Curlews flighting over the border city on their journey to the 

 western estuaries ; but there is no time and no place in Lake- 

 land at which you may not suddenly hear the familiar cry and 

 spy a Curlew passing over, mounted high in the air, to revisit 

 some favourite pool or sandbank. Mr. Nicol, who has had great 

 experience of wild-fowling, tells me that no bird preserves its con- 

 dition so well in severe weather as the Curlew. This should 

 probably be explained by the depth to which the Curlew is enabled 

 to probe the mud or sand by means of its long mandibles. 

 These birds often remove the shrimps used by our fishermen as 

 baits for codling on the mussel scars. Mr. Nicol one day found 

 a Curlew which had got hooked and was held a firm prisoner. 



