NUMEXIUS L1NEATUS. 
909 
the wild flight-cry koi-oirr. When “ beached ” in my sailing-canoe some distance from land on a moonlight 
night I have listened to these assemblies and heard the noise of thousands of Sandpipers, Curlews, Crab- 
Plovers &e., gradually increasing as the tide receded, and the ripple of the water against the bottom of my 
frail craft ceased by degrees, until I was “ high and dry," and all was still save the mingled voices of the 
myriads of birds around me. The flight of the Curlew is powerful and performed with regular beatings of 
the wings ; when alarmed it is capable of proceeding with great speed ; and when a flock are together it is a 
fine sight to see them swerve about in their headlong course, turning first to one side and then the other. Y\ hen 
alighting they descend sometimes with great rapidity towards the ground, with half-closed wings, which they 
spread out on nearing the earth, and so check their course. When walking, the Curlew has rather an awkward 
appearance ; its body is nearly horizontal and its bill pointed downwards ready to snap up its food. It takes 
little runs of a few paces when catching the sand-flies, mollusks, sea-worms, &c. which it feeds upon, and at 
other times stalks leisurely about. When winged it runs with considerable speed while being pursued. It. 
maintains its characteristic shyness everywhere, for Layard remarks of it in South Africa that it rarely falls to 
the gun of the sportsman. Its flesh is in general fishy in taste, and is always inferior to that of the W himbrel. 
I know nothing of the nidification of this species. Prjevalsky says that he found it breeding in the 
Hoang-ho valley in small numbers, and also at Lake Hanka ; but no details of its nesting are given. The 
eggs are, in all probability, similar to those of the European form, which are dusky olive, blotched and spotted 
with brown, and measure about 2'6 inches by 1*8. 
6 A 2 
