190 
SCOLOPACID^. 
and day-feeder. On examination of the stomachs of six birds, 
killed in different months, two were found to contain the remains 
of worms, and one, of vegetable matter in addition to them ; a third 
was filled with insect larvae ; a fourth contained the fragment of a 
cockle and some sand ; a fifth was filled with the remains of crabs 
which could not have been less than an inch and a half across the 
carapace, or body ; the sixth was half filled with pebbles, some of 
which were one-third of an inch in diameter. A fowler once re- 
marked to me, that he had seen crabs of so large a size in the 
curlew that it was a marveh^ to him how the bird could swallow 
them. The curlew (according to Mr. Poole) is sometimes very 
much infested with intestinal worms, which, in some cases, literally 
cover the folds of the viscera and the parietes of the abdomen.^^ 
I have noticed that the bill of this species is a longer time attain- 
ing its full dimensions — about six inches — than the body is, 
its full size. 
Variety in Colour , — white curlew, shot by Mr. David Stewart, 
in the winter of 1848, on his farm at Tulnakill, near Ardmillan, 
on the shore of Strangford Lough, was (tlirough the kind at- 
tention of Mr. Caughey of the latter place) forwarded to Belfast 
for my examination. It is an adult bird of full size ; bill, nearly 
five inches long from rictus to point, &c. It would be called 
wholly white, as there is not a dark spot or marking in its entire 
plumage. The whitish colour which prevails throughout, how- 
ever, is not pure. A very faint brownish-white hue appears in 
front and on one side of the neck and breast, as well as on the 
central portion of the dorsal plumage : the quills near the shafts 
are likewise of this colour. All the rest is white, of a very pale 
cream-coloured tinge. The bill is whitish horn-colour : one tar- 
sus is of the ordinary hue, the other lighter; but both would 
doubtless have become whitish had the bird been permitted to 
live long enough. This curlew had been observed occasionally, 
during two years, in the district in which it was kiUed. It was 
then in company with several others of its species. 
Breeding-places . — The curlew breeds only in the least frequented 
boggy tracts. In the county of Antrim, it is believed to do so in 
