BRITISH BIRDS® 
55 
and the two former with oblong ftrokes more thick« 
ly fet, of the fame colour. The quill feathers are 
black, the inner webs croffed or fpotted with white: 
the tail is barred with black, on a white ground 
tinged with red : the legs are bare a little above the 
knees, of a blueifii colour, and the toes are thick, 
and flat on the underfide. 
Thefe birds differ much in fize, as well as in the 
different fliades of their plumage ; fome of them 
weighing not more than twenty-two ounces, and 
others as much as thirty-feven. In the plumage of 
fome the white parts are much more diflind and 
clear than in others, which are more uniformly 
grey, and tinged with pale brown. 
The female is fo nearly like the male, that any 
particular defcription of her is unneceffary : flie 
makes her nefl upon the ground, in a dry tuft of 
rufhes or grafs, of fuch withered materials as are 
found near, and lays four eggs of a greenifh call, 
fpotted with brown. 
The Curlew is met with by travellers in moft 
parts of Europe, from Iceland to the Mediterranean 
Iflands. In Britain their fummer refidence is upon 
the large, heathy, boggy moors, where they breed, 
Their food confifls of worms, flies, and infers, 
which they pick out of the foft moffy ground by 
the marfhy pools, which are common in fuch places. 
In winter they depart to the fea-fide, where they 
are feen in great numbers, and then live upon the 
