curlews

He still minded his estate, of which it might be said he took daily a fresh farewell, and counted it already lost; looking ruefully on the acres and the graves of his fathers, on the moorlands where the wild-fowl consorted, the low, gurgling pool of the trout, and the high, windy place of the calling curlews -- things that were yet his for the day and would be another's to-morrow; coming back again, and sitting ciphering till the dusk at his approaching ruin, which no device of arithmetic could postpone beyond a year or two.

Lay Morals Robert Louis Stevenson 1872

The "curlews" themselves are the "dreary gleams:" the words are what the Latin Grammar calls "duo substantiva ejusdem rei."

Notes and Queries, Number 186, May 21, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. Various 1852

We pitched our tent under the shelter of a forest of Live Oaks, Palms and Sweet Bays; and having in the course of the day, procured plenty of sea fowl, such as curlews, willets, snipes, sand birds and others; we had them dressed for supper, and seasoned with excellent oysters, which lay in heaps in the water, close to our landing place.

Travels Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws; Containing An Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. 1823

I leave the hay meadows of the East Allen and take a farm track that leads up through pastures of chubby lambs as curlews circle and cry out in alarm.

Country diary: Allendale, Northumberland 2011

When I reached the river bank it almost seemed as though the curlews were welcoming me.

Country diary: River Nairn 2011

I also saw why Alfred Hitchcock chose the location: the sky was full of birds, but, at least according to the book on my bedside table, they were more black oystercatchers and long-billed curlews than killer blackbirds.

Fallin’ Up Steve Dennis 2011

I leave the hay meadows of the East Allen and take a farm track that leads up through pastures of chubby lambs as curlews circle and cry out in alarm.

Country diary: Allendale, Northumberland 2011

The natural sand dunes attract a plethora of birds, including oystercatchers, wagtails, curlews, skylarks, wild pheasants and grey partridges.

The 10 best campsites for luxury 2011

I also saw why Alfred Hitchcock chose the location: the sky was full of birds, but, at least according to the book on my bedside table, they were more black oystercatchers and long-billed curlews than killer blackbirds.

Fallin’ Up Steve Dennis 2011

The worms must be returning to the surface after the winter frosts and soon the curlews will be nesting.

Country diary: Northamptonshire 2011