Th& Hiftory of A N I M A L & 471 
NUMENIUS, 
T H E beak of the Numenius is of a figure approaching to cylindric; it is oh- 
tufe at the point, and is longer than the toes: the feet have each four toes con- 
nedted together. 
Numemus roftro arcuato ? alts nigris maculis niveis* 
"The Numenius , with an arcuated beaky and black %f)t 
wings with white fpots* 
This is a moderately large bird; the weight of a female, tolerably fiefhy one, Is 
near two pounds: the head is fmall and rounded ; the eyes are large and bright; the 
beak is of a very Angular figure; it is long, flender, bent or arched, and black: the 
extremity is obtufe ; the noftrils are obiong j the tongue is very (hort* 
The head, neck, and back are of a variegated mixture of black-grey and brown % 
the middle of each feather is black, and the edges are grey and brown : the throat and 
breaft are variegated with black, white, and a reddifii-brown : the middle of the fea¬ 
thers is always black, but the edges of thofe on the throat are of a pale reddifii-brown, 
and of thofe of the breaft white : the belly is of a pure white ; the rump alfo is 
white, without any variegation: the wings are long, and are variegated with black 
and white; the covering feathers being many of them wholly white, and the princi¬ 
pal of the long feathers black. 
It is frequent in watery places with us, and in mod other parts of Europe, and is 
every-where efteemed a delicacy at table. Moft of the writers on birds have defcribed 
it. Aldrovand calls it, Amply, Numenius; Gefner, Numenius five Arquata; Ray, 
Numenius five Arquata major; and fome, limply, Arquata. We call it the Curlew, 
or Curlieu. 
Numenius roftro arcuato , dorfo maculis fufcis rhomboidalibus variegato. 
The arcuated-beaked NumeniuSy with rhomboidal brown fpots on the bach 
This is of the bignefs of a tame pigeon, but a bird of a very different form : the 
head is fmall and rounded ; the eyes are fmall, but of a very piercing afpedl: the beak 
is black, and it is flender and arcuated in a very remarkable manner. 
The head, neck, and breaft are of a pale brown, marked with longitudinal fpots 
of a darker colour, the lower of which are finuated as it were : the back is marked 
with larger fpots of a very deep brown, and of a rhomboidal figure: the belly is 
white ; the thighs are covered with pale brown, variegated feathers, and behind them 
there are fome regular fpots: the legs are long, flender, and of a bluifh colour; the 
toes are long and conne&ed. 
9 
The wings are long, and fpread to a great extent, in proportion to the fize and ge¬ 
nus of the bird: the long feathers of them are black; they are twenty-fix in num¬ 
ber, and have fome variegations of white : the large feathers of the tail are fourteen j 
they have eight fafciated variegations of a paler and a deeper brown. 
This is a native of England, but it is not common; I have only jmet with it in 
the northern counties, but I have two or three times fhot it there*,,did the country 
people are weli acquainted with it. They call it a Curlew, but are very well apprized 
of the difference between it, and the bird commonly called fo. Linn^us, in his ac¬ 
count of the animals of Sweden, has named it after Rudbeck, but no other author 
mentions it. 
Numenius■ 
