BRITISH BIRDS. 
53 
OF THE CURLEW. 
The bill is long, equally incurvated, and termi-a 
nated in a blunt point ; noftrils linear, and longi- 
tudinal near the bafe ; tongue fhort and fliarp point- 
ed ; and the toes are connected as far as the firft 
joint by a membrane. 
With the Curlew, Linn^us begins a numerous 
tribe of birds under the generic name of Scolo- 
pax, which, in his arrangement, includes all the 
Snipes and Godwits, amounting, according to La- 
tham, to forty-two fpecies and eight varietie's, 
fpread over various parts of the world, but no 
where very numerous. 
Bulfon defcribes fifteen fpecies and varieties of 
the Curlew, and Latham ten, only two or three of 
which are Britifli birds. They feed upon, worms 
which they pick' up on the furface, or with their 
bills dig from the foft earth : on thefe they depend 
for their principal fupport ; but they alfo devour 
the various kinds of infers which fwarm in the 
mud, and in the wet boggy grounds, where thefe 
birds chiefly take up their abode. 
