THE CURLEW. 
191 
that month, and as late as the end of June. During the period 
of incubation the male is constantly on the alert, usually tak- 
ing his stand upon some commanding eminence, from whence, 
concealed by the grass or heather, he can observe the 
approach of an enemy long before he himself can be seen ; 
then with loud cries he springs up ; he is joined by others — for 
more than one pair is commonly found upon the moor — and 
the noisy birds soar screaming overhead in every direction. 
Sometimes the female takes alarm with the rest, but this, so far 
as I have observed, is when she has been sitting for a few days 
only ; and hence it is that when she is found upon the eggs 
they are nearly always in a somewhat advanced stage of incuba- 
tion. The nest is generally more or less well lined with grass, 
sometimes with a little moss in addition. Much care does not 
appear to be bestowed upon its concealment, but I have upon 
occasion seen it very snugly placed in a large tuft of tall grass. 
As in the case of the Oyster-catcher, different statements are 
made by authors as to the number of eggs laid by the Curlew, 
some maintaining it to be three, others four. Mr Gray, how- 
ever, throws an unexpected light upon the matter, thus — “From 
Mr Harvie Brown’s journals I learn that in Sutherlandshire, 
where the Curlew is local, though common in the districts it 
frequents, four eggs are almost invariably found in the nest, 
three being the usual number taken in nests throughout the 
midland and southern counties.”^ In Shetland four is by far 
the more usual number, a nest with no more than three eggs 
being merely found now and then. 
The eggs of the same nest mostly resemble one another in 
colour and shape, but very singular varieties will sometimes 
occur. I have some which are even longer than the specimen 
figured by Mr Hewitson, others no longer than Whimbrel’s, from 
which, however, their greater breadth always distinguishes 
them. One taken in Yell has the blotches unusually large, 
and deviates so far from the usual, almost invariable, pyriform 
shape, that its outline nearly resembles that of an egg of the 
* Birds of West of Scotland, p. 288. 
