The Curlews. 
1 75 
THE 
WHIMBREL. 
( Numenius phccopus.) 
The Whimbrel. 
The Whimbrel is a 
much smaller bird than 
the Curlew, and the sexes 
are of about the same size, 
while the bill is only a little over three inches 
in length. In winter the lower back is pure 
white, but in summer plumage it is streaked 
with black, and the under surface is distinctly 
streaked with black as well. The Whimbrel 
is a summer visitor to Great Britain, though 
some remain over the winter, and a few breed 
on the moors in the North of Scotland. It 
nests on the tundra of Northern Europe from 
Scandinavia to the Petchora River, and pos- 
sibly in Central Siberia. The Whimbrel re- 
sembles the Curlew in habits, and breeds on 
the moors, collecting in flocks in the autumn. 
The nest is merely a little hollow among the 
heather, with a lining of a few dried grasses. The eggs are like those of the Curlew, 
but are smaller, measuring from two to nearly two-and-a-half inches in length. 
The small size of this Curlew distinguishes it from the 
Whimbrel, like which bird it has a pale stripe down the middle 
of the crown, and it has plain-coloured primary quills; the lower 
back and rump are like the back, and not white. It has occurred 
at intervals in England, Scotland and Ireland, but its native home is in North 
America. The nest is only a depression 
in the ground, with a slight lining of dry 
grass; the eggs are four in number, 
measuring about two-and-a-half inches in 
length, and are olive-brown, with the 
usual brown and grey spots and blotches 
seen on all Waders’ eggs. 
The Godwits, in- 
stead of a curved bill, 
have the latter slightly 
upturned, or nearly 
straight. In summer 
both species of Godwit are remarkable for 
their red breasts, which are replaced by a 
white breast in the winter, while the young 
The Eskimo Curlew. birds have a buff tinge on the under parts. 
THE ESKIMO 
CURLEW. 
(Numenius borealis.) 
THE 
BAR-TAILED 
GODWIT. 
(Limosa lapponica. 
