188 
SCOLOPACIDJi. 
In dark and stormy nights curlews are unwilling to undertake 
the flight described, and seek the sheltered creek within the 
Kinnegar of Holywood. When lying in w^ait for them here, at 
such times, I have remarked them come and alight with silence, 
their distrust being at the same time evinced by the slightest 
noise, — as the snapping of a gun, — driving them away. 
With reference to the cautious fear manifested by the curlew, 
it may be added, that once, on a calm bright day, I observed four 
of these birds alight during high water at the edge of the tide, 
where they were out of range of shot from the shore ; but, being 
alarmed, though without cause, they flew out and alighted in the 
water, where it was so deep that their legs were entirely concealed 
from view : had I not seen them on wing and alighting, they 
would have passed for Natatores. Of the caution (?) of the 
curlew we have an amusing instance in the bird kept by Colonel 
Montagu. After selecting the worms from the bread-and-milk, 
in which they were served up to induce the captive to partake 
of the latter food also, it carried all off to the pond, and washed 
them well, before venturing to swallow any. 
Mr. Selby, in his ^ Illustrations of British Ornithology,^ and 
Sir Wm. Jardine, in a note to his edition of WilsoAs ^American 
Ornithology,^ have each, from his own observation — and in terms 
manifesting an ardent love of nature — dwelt upon the instinct of 
the curlew ; but in both works it is the flight from the sea to 
inland stations, not to marine rocky islets, that is mentioned. 
In neither work is there any difference alluded to, as in the pre- 
ceding instances, on the different manuer of the birds going to and 
returning from the sea. By the latter author it is observed, that 
they fly in a direct line to their feeding-grounds ; but in Belfast 
Bay, though the distance would be much shorter over laud, their 
going and returning flights are invariably above the sea. On the 
opposite side of the bay, however, where the highly improved 
farms of some of the gentry present enclosures so large that the 
centre of them is beyond the reach of gun-shot from any fence, 
the curlew resorts, preferring meadow or pasture land, and re- 
maining, as on the marine islets, just so long as the tide may 
be in receding from their feeding-quarters in the estuary. In 
