534 



WHINCHAT. 



WHIM. — A name for the Wig-eon. 

 WHIMBREL (Numenius Phceopus, Latham.) 



Scolopax Phceopus, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 243. 4 Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 657. — Numenius 



Phceopus, Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 711. Q.—Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 604— Flem. 

 Br. Anim. p. 101. — Numenius minor, Briss. 5. p. 317. t. 27. f. 1 — Arquata 



minor, Rail, Syn. p. 103. A. 2. Will. p. 217 Corlieu, ou petit Courlis, Buff. 



Ois. 8. p. 27.— Whimbrel, Br. Zool. 2. No. 177. — lb. fol. 119.— Arct. Zool. 2. 



p. 462. B Will. (Angl.) p. 294 Edw. t. 307.— Lath. Syn. 5. p. 123 — 



Lewin's Br. Birds, 4. t. 154 Wale. Syn. 2. t. 134 Don. Br. Birds, 3. t. 72. 



Provincial. — Curlew-knot. Curlew-Jack. Half-Curlew. 



Stone-Curlew. Tang-Whaup. 



The weight of this species is about fourteen ounces ; length eighteen 

 inches ; the bill is above three inches in length, arcuated ; upper man- 

 dible dusky ; under part whitish at the base ; in some, of a reddish 

 flesh-colour ; the head, neck, and breast, pale brown down the middle 

 of each feather, margined with white, lightest on the forehead, and 

 darkest on the crown of the head ; chin and belly white ; the irides are 

 dusky, eyelids white ; sides of the body barred with dusky ; the upper 

 parts of the body, scapulars, and wing coverts, dusky, margined with 

 pale brown ; quill- feathers dusky ; the borders of the internal webs 

 barred with white ; the tail is dusky ash-colour, the middle feathers 

 darkest, marked with six or seven dusky bars ; legs dusky. 



The Whimbrel has all the manners of the curlew, and indeed is so 

 very like it in plumage, that in some places it has obtained the name of 

 jack-curlew, from a supposition that it is the male of that bird ; but it 

 is by no means so plentiful a species. 



It is a migrative bird, visiting our coasts in August, and continuing 

 the winter, keeping together in small flocks of five or six ; it has been 

 suspected to breed on the coast of Sussex and Kent, especially about 

 Romney Marsh ; but that has not been ascertained with certainty. *It 

 breeds in Zetland, on the exposed heaths, laying four or five eggs, but 

 more generally in the Arctic Regions, and in the north of Asia. Tem- 

 minck had specimens of this bird from North America and Bengal, 

 which were in every respect the same as those killed in Europe.* 



WHINCHAT (Sawicola rubetra, Bechstein.) 



*Saxicola rubetra, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 252. B. — Sylvia rubetra, Lath. 



Ind. Orn. 2. p. 525*^ sp. 58 Turton, Br. Fauna, 1. p. 46 Motacilla rubetra, 



Linn. Syst. 1. p. 332. 16. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 967. sp. 16. — Rubetra major, Briss. 



3. p. 432. 26. t. 24. f. 1 (Enanthe secunda, Raii, Syn. p. 76. A. 3.— Will. p. 



234 Grand Traquet ou Tarier, Buff. Ois. 5. p. 224 lb. pi. Enl. 678. f. 2.— 



Traquet Tarier, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 244 Braunkeliger, Steinschmatzer, 



Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 3. p. 684. — Frisch, t. 22. f. 1. B. male.— Whin-Chat, 



Br. Zool. 1. No. 158 Will. (Angl.) p. 234.— Lath. Syn. 4. p. 454. 54.— 



Mont. Orn. Diet.— Haye's Br. Birds, t. 39.— Lewin's Br. Birds, 3. t. 109.— 



