buffeting and ivhmqmig with all his might. When the young are hatched, they remain near the spot ; and 
are for a long time difficult to raise ; a pointer will stand and road them ; and at that time they are tender 
and well flavoured. By autumn they are nearly all dispersed to the sea-coasts, and have now lost their clear 
whistle. They remain here until next spring, feeding at low tide on the shore, and retiring for a few miles to 
inland fields at high water ; on their return again at the ehb, they show a remarkable instance of the instinctive 
knowledge implanted, and most conspicuous, in the migratory sea- and water-fowl. During my occasional 
residence on the Solway, for some years past in the month of August, these birds, with many others, were the 
objects of observation. They retired regularly inland after their favourite feeding-places were covered. A 
long and narrow ledge of rocks runs into the Frith, behind which we used to lie concealed for the purpose 
of getting shots at various sea-fowl returning at ebb. None were so regular as the Curlew. The more 
aquatic were near the sea, and could perceive the gradual reflux : the Curlews were far inland ; but as soon 
as we coidd see the top of a sharp rock standing above water, we were sure to perceive the first flocks leave 
the land, thus keeping pace regularly with the change of the tides. They fly in a direet line to their feeding- 
grounds, and often in a wedge shape ; on alarm, a simultaneous cry is uttered, and the next coining flock 
turns from its course, uttering in repetition the same alarm-note. In a few days they become so wary as 
not to fly over the coneealed station. They are one of the most difficult birds to approach, except during 
spring; hut may be enticed by imitating their whistle.” 
“ The cry of the Curlew,” says Thompson, “ is by far the loudest uttered by any of our grallatorial birds. 
It will perhaps be scarcely credited that it can be heard at the distance of nearly three English miles ; yet, 
under ]>eculiar cii'cumstances, such is the case. I have heard it on calm moonlight nights, when at the ex- 
tremity of the hay at Holywood Warren, awaiting the flight of these birds from Harrison’s Bay and Cons- 
water, whence the flowing tide would drive them from particular banks respectively about two and three 
miles distant from my station. The call from the first-named locality sounded quite near, and from the 
latter distinct, though much more faintly, the state of the tide evincing with certainty that all the hanks, 
except the two alluded to, were covered too deeply with water for the birds to he on them.” 
“Whilst in Norway,” observes Mr. Hewltson, “we were much amused with what appeared to us to he 
quite a new and unnoticed habit amongst the Grallatores or Wading-birds. We found it to be a practice by 
no means uncommon with the Redshank and Greenshank, to settle upon trees ; but what surprised us more 
than all, was to see the long-legged Curlew alight, as it frequently did, on the tops of the highest trees of the 
])ine forest, and to hear it as it passed from tree to tree, utter its loud clear whistle. Mr. George Matthews 
informed me, on his return from Norway, that Curlews were common during summer, and generally in 
pairs about Trondhjem, where they were usually seen perched on the tops of the cabins of the peasantry.” 
Mr. Selby states that “ the nest is placed on the ground amongst heath or coarse herbage, in a shallow 
part scraped in the ground, and lined with decayed grass and rushes. The eggs are four in number, placed 
with their large ends outwards, and the smaller meeting to a point in the centre of the nest, of a pale olive 
colour, blotched all over with two shades of brown. The young leave their place of birth as soon as hatched, 
and are then covered with a thick yellowish-white down, varied with spots and masses of brown. By degrees 
the feathers develope themselves ; hut the young birds are not sufficiently fledged to take wing till they are 
six or seven weeks old. During this period they are assiduously attended by their parents, who lead them 
to appropriate feeding-places, and, by brooding over, protect them from the cold and wet. Under these 
circumstances Curlews lose the excessive shyness that characterizes them at all other times, and, when the 
young are apjiroached, will fly close around the intruder, uttering their cry of courlis in quick repetition. 
The flesh of these birds is excellent, being juicy and highly flavoured, and is in great estimation for the 
table.” 
A partial, but not very striking, change takes place in the plumage of the Curlew at the pairing-season, 
the tints becoming somewhat richer, and the spotting more apparent, the lighter portions of the feathers 
of the upper surface assuming a redder hue, and the stripes of black on the neck and chest becoming more 
conspicuous. The plumage of both sexes is alike ; the female is generally the larger of the two ; but to 
determine the sex with certainty, dissection must be resorted to. Considerable difference occurs in the length 
of the bill, some individuals, even of the same sex, having that organ much longer than others ; and it would 
seem that it increases in length even after the bird is capable of reproduction. 
The Plate represents an adult and two young ones, of the natural size. 
