CURLEW (OF. corlieu, It. chiur/o; probably onomatopoetic in origin). A shore-bird of the genus Numenius, and snipe family, characterized especially by its long, slender, downward-curving bill, and its liking for upland plains rathei than marshy places. In America are the Huds:onian or Jack curlew (Numenius fludsonicus), the Es kimo curlew, or doe-bird ( X11»tenius borealis), and the long-billed curlew (Altintenius longirostris). The first two are found in summer in far Arctic regions and in winter as far south as Patagonia, so that during some part of the year they occur in most portions of the Western Hemisphere. The long-billed, whose beak is sometimes eight inches long, belongs in the eastern and central United States, especially at the South, and on the Northwestern prairies. Its nest, like that of other curlews, is on the ground, and slightly con structed, and the eggs are clay-colo•ed, with various brown markings.
The common curlew of Great Britain (none /fins arqua t us) , the 'whaup' of the Scotch, has an almost world-wide distribution in the Old World, migrating even to New Zealand. It frequents the grassy moors of England and Scotland in slimmer, and its whistle is one of the character istics of those upland scenes. Its flesh and eggs are both eaten. Other. Old World species are the whimbrel (Numenhis phwopus) and the Otahiti curlew (Numenius Taitensis), of the Pacific islands, often called the bristle-bellied cur lew, because the feathers of the belly are tipped with glistening bristles. Consult: Cones, Birds of the Northwest (Washington, 1874) ; and Selous, Bird Watching (London, 1901). See Plate of BEACH-BIRDS.