234 CURLEW 
Even during the breeding season the coast is never entirely 
deserted. On migration the Curlew also passes Man in 
great numbers, its weird cries being very noticeable at 
night, when during thick weather the lights of the towns 
seem to attract the flocks. They appear in the migration 
reports on many dates; thus on 38rd November 1881 
Curlews were flying all night round the Bahama lght- 
vessel, and around the rock lighthouse at the Chickens on 
15th January 1887. One was killed at the lantern at 
Douglas Head on 2nd November 1881. 
In comparison with the great number of non-breeding 
individuals very few nest in Man. Like the Sandpiper, 
Dipper, Ring Ouzel, Grey Wagtail, and Wheatear, all 
conspicuous birds of the hill-districts surrounding the Irish _ 
Sea, the Curlew seems to dislike our island as a summer 
residence, and in 1862 Dr. Crellin mentions the species as 
not ascertained to nest here. A few, however, breed on 
the swampy moorlands in which the branches of the Sulby 
take their rise; a few pairs nest in the dark heathy land 
about the head of Glen Rushen, and a few couples in the 
Curragh. 
Mr. Roeder gives the following note about the Curlew in 
his ‘ Folk-Lore of the South of the Isle of Man’ (Y. L. M., 
ill. p. 137): ‘ The first bird St. Patrick heard in landing on 
the island* “a whistling bird,” was the collyoo (the Curlew), 
and ever since nobody would find the bird’s nest in the 
Isle of Man,’ a story which illustrates the difficulty of 
marking the exact site amid the featureless wastes the 
bird inhabits. | 
The chief breeding haunt, at the head, as above noted, of 
Sulby Glen, is a wide, desolate hollow, the sides of which 
1 According to a folk-tale, supplied me by Miss Morrison, of Peel, Saint Pat- 
rick, wandering on the sea in a thick mist, discovered his nearness to the Manx 
shore by hearing the voices of the Curlew, the Goat, and the Cock, all three of 
which he blessed. 
