Volume 34, Plate XXII / Ornithology (Birds)

Common Curlew

Numenius arquata

A frequent summer inhabitant of subalpine pastures and pastoral districts breeding even among young grain, the Common Curlew utters a clear shrill whistle and meets intruders with noisy screams during incubation. The head, neck, and breast are yellowish wood-brown streaked with umber, the belly white, the upper parts clove-brown glossed with purple and margined with white, and the long bill is pink at the base, deep-brown at the tip.