THE CURLEWS. 
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with longitudinal streaks of dark brown on the throat and 
breast, and with bars of dark brown, of a more or less sagittate 
shape, on the sides of the body and flanks ; abdomen and 
under tail-coverts white, the latter with streaks and bars of dark 
brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, with dusky- 
brown bars, very distinct on the latter ; quills dusky-brown 
below, notched with white ; bill black, the base of the under 
mandible pale brown; feet light greyish-blue, claws black; iris 
brown. Total length, 15 inches ; culmen, 3-4 ; wing, 9-5; tail, 
37; tarsus, 2-5. 
Adult Female In Breeding Plumage. — Similar to the male in plu- 
mage, and scarcely differing in size. Total length, 15 inches; 
culmen, 3-3 ; wing, 9-8 ; tail, 3-9 ; tarsus, 2-25. 
Adults in Winter Plumage. — Similar to the summer plumage, 
but with the lower back perfectly white, the black streaks being 
concealed ; the under parts less distinctly streaked, and the 
flanks less distinctly barred than in the summer plumage. 
Young Birds. — Mayalways be distinguished bythe more mottled 
appearance of the upper surface, most of the feathers being 
spotted on both webs with whitish or pale rufescent-buff ; the 
lower back and rump are plentifully mottled with spots of dusky- 
brown, and the innermost secondaries very distinctly notched 
with rufescent-buff ; the streaks on the throat and breast, and 
the bars on the flanks, almost as plentifully developed as in the 
adults ; the bars on the axillaries are often very incomplete, and 
are, in rare instances, entirely absent. 
Range in Great Britain. — The Whimbrel is chiefly known as a 
migrant, but it breeds sparingly in the Orkneys and Shetlands, 
as well as in North Ronay in the Outer Hebrides. A certain 
number remain during the winter, especially on the west coast 
of Ireland, but the species is for the most part migratory in Great 
Britain, coming north in April and May, and returning in August 
and September. The first heralds in autumn migration are the 
young birds returning south in July. 
Range outside the British Islands. — From Iceland and the Faeroes 
to Scandinavia and Northern Russia, as far as the Valley of the 
Petchora, the Whimbrel breeds above the limit of forest growth. 
The exact eastern liinit qf the breeding-range is at present un- 
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