BRITISH BIRDS 



In August and September, as they move down from their breeding grounds to 

 the coast, their well-known cry may be heard, often in the stillness of the 

 night, over towns and cities, even in the outskirts of London. This bird has 

 a wide range during the nesting season over Northern and Central Europe and 

 Northern Asia, and migrates southwards from the more northern parts of its 

 habitat in winter, when its visits the Mediterranean countries, Africa, South 

 Asia, and Japan. 



The nest is a shallow depression amongst the grass and heather of the moorland, 

 scantily lined with dry bents or twigs of heath, and contains four eggs — large for 

 the size of the bird — in ground-colour pale brownish-green, blotched and spotted 

 with brown. The usual call-note of this species, from which the bird has probably 

 derived its name, is clear and loud, but in the breeding season a succession of soft 

 warbling notes are uttered during flight, which are extremely pleasing to the ear. 

 Though sometimes showing great boldness when its eggs or young are threatened, 

 there is no more wary bird than the Curlew, and it is practically unapproachable on 

 the mud-flats and open sandy shore where it seeks its food, consisting then chiefly 

 of crustaceans and various small sea animals, or of earth-worms, insects, and wild 

 fruits, when inland on the moors. 



THE WHIMBREL. 



Numenius phaopus (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 69. 



The Whimbrel is a regular visitor to the British Islands on passage in spring 

 and autumn, while a few stay throughout the winter on our shores. It breeds in 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands, and, according to the B.O.U. List of British Birds 

 (2nd ed. 191 5), it has nested in St. Kilda and apparently on North Rona, though 

 never known to nest on the mainland of Great Britain or Ireland. It inhabits 

 Northern Europe and Asia in the nesting season, and migrates southwards for the 

 winter to Africa, India, and the Malay Peninsula. The Whimbrel is known by 

 various names to the gunners on the coast, among others " May-bird," on account 

 of the numbers seen during that month, when the bulk of these migrants appears, 

 and " Half-Curlew," in allusion to its resemblance to the larger species. In its 

 habits it does not appear to differ much from the Curlew, nor in its nidification. 

 The four eggs are dull olive-green, marked with umber-brown. 



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