196 
SCOLOPACID^E. 
THE WHIMBREL. 
May Curlew ; May Whaap ; May-bird^ or May-fowl ; 
Jack Curlew ; Stone Curlew. 
Numenius Linn, (sp.) 
Scolopax „ ,, 
Is conimoii, especially wlien moving northward in its 
vernal migration. 
This is the only one of the Scolopacidoe that can be characterized, 
in general terms (exceptions there must surely be), as a bird of 
double passage only,= — visiting us merely on migration to and 
from its breeding haunts. Doubtless it may at least occasionally 
be met with, in winter, on some parts of the coast, more particu- 
larly southward ; but my correspondents, in all quarters of the 
island, mention the species either as a spring, or as a spring 
and autumnal visitant. In the month of April or May, it appears 
in large flocks along the line of the eastern coast, — -on that of 
Wexford, Dublin, Louth, Down, Antrim, &c. As the whimbrei 
is not found to the westward of Ireland within the latitude of 
tliis island, it is interesting to know that these migratory bodies 
move as regularly along the western as the eastern coast. Thus, 
they are very common, in April and May, near Tralee, in 
Kerry ; appear in large flocks about Roundstone, on the 
Galway coast, in May, and remain during that month, where they 
* By the shooters in Belfast Bay (one of whom speaks from the experience of 
above half a century), this bird was never seen in winter. On the Dublin coast, and 
in Cork harbour, it is said merely to appear in spring and autumn. With respect 
to Great Britain, however, Mr. Selby remarks that “ these birds are found upon 
most of our shores during the winter * * * rarely associated in companies of 
more than five or six in number” (vol. ii. p. 66). Mr. Yarrell observes, although 
this bird is “ to he seen occasionally on many parts of our shores in winter, it is 
generally most plentiful in May, and again in autumn * * * on the way to and 
from the northern localities, &c.” (vol. ii. p. 517). 
-{■ The late Mr. T. F. Neligan. 
