Slender-billed Curlew
Numenius tenuirostris Vieillot, 1817
Artwork © By Elizabeth Gould & Edward Lear - https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/132862#page/258/mode/1up, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12680425
STATUS
Eurasia. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
Species not admitted nationally (BOU 1971).
NOT PROVEN
0). 1892 Upper Forth Edinample Castle, Lochearnhead, Stirlingshire, shot, undated, now at Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding, Lincolnshire.
(J. Redshaw, Birding World 11: 274).
[BOURC (2003), Ibis 145: 178-183].
History J. Redshaw (1998) in Birding World, Vol. XI. p. 274, says: 'A mounted specimen in the A. K. Maples Collection, on loan from the Spalding Gentleman's Society is displayed at Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding, Lincolnshire. The provenance ledger for the collection states that it was shot by Andrew McEwen, a keeper to Lord Breadalbane, on No. 1 Beat at Edinample Castle, Lochearnhead (Stirlingshire) in 1892.'
0). 1910 Kent Brookland, immature male and female, both shot, 21st September; adult male, shot, 23rd September.
(M. J. Nicoll, British Birds 5: 124, photo; W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 30: 272; E. N. Bloomfield, Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist 2: 4; Eds., Ibis 1912: 553).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History M. J. Nicoll (1911) in British Birds, Vol. V. p. 124, says: 'Towards the end of September, 1910, a small flock of Slender-billed Curlews - Numenius tenuirostris - arrived on Romney Marsh, near Brookland, Kent, and of these three were shot. The first two - an immature pair - were obtained on September 21st, and the male was shown to me in the flesh the same day. Two days later a somewhat worn adult male was shot, and this also I examined before it was skinned. The first two of these are now in the collection of Mr. J. B. Nichols, the male of which is, by his kind permission, here figured. That the Slender-billed Curlew should occur on our coasts is not surprising, seeing that so long ago as 1830, or thereabouts, one was shot as close as Heligoland, while it has occurred, so I am informed, three times in Holland, twice in Belgium, once at least in northern France, and four times in Germany. It winters in the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and was for a long time thought to breed there, but there now seems to be no doubt that it breeds in western Siberia. Mr. H. E. Dresser exhibited the first authenticated egg at the British Ornithologists' Club in December, 1909, and announced that Russian correspondents of his had taken eggs on the borders of Lake Tschany near Taganowskiye, and in the Tara District in the south-eastern part of the Tobolsk Government, Siberia, in 1909 (Bull B.O.C., XXV. pp. 38-39). This species is easily recognizable by its short and very slender bill, and by the pear-shaped black markings on the flanks. In size it nearly approaches the Whimbrel, but differs from it in the coloration of the crown, which is streaked with buff and black, like the Common Curlew.'
W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Editor (1912) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XXX. p. 272, on the unexpected occurrences for 1910, says: 'Three shot, Romney Marsh (Kent), September 21st and 23rd.'
In an Editorial (1912) in The Ibis, Vol. LIV. p. 553, under 'Additions to the British List,' this record was admitted on to the British List.
Comment Hastings rarities. Not acceptable.
0). 1914 Kent Jury's Gap, immature male, 10th September.
(H. W. Ford-Lindsay, British Birds 8: 150).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History H. W. Ford-Lindsay (1914) in British Birds, Vol. VIII. p. 150, says: 'An example of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) was obtained at Jury's Gap, Kent, on September 10th, 1914, and I examined it in the flesh on the following day. It proved to be an immature male. There have only been three previous records for Great Britain, an immature pair September 21st, 1910, and an adult male, September 23rd, 1910, all obtained in Kent (cf. Brit. B., Vol. V. p. 124).'
Comment Hastings rarity. Not acceptable.
0). 1919 Sussex Pevensey Sluice, two, obtained, 18th May, now at Hastings Museum.
(W. R. Butterfield, Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist 3: 132; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History W. R. Butterfield (1920) in the Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist, Vol. III. p. 132, says: 'A male and female were shot at Pevensey Sluice on May 18th, and on the following day were shown to myself before being skinned. The condition of the soft parts clearly pointed to the birds having been recently killed. Mr. W. H. Mullens has recently given both birds to the Hastings Museum. The species is not known to have occurred in Sussex before.'
Accepted locally (Walpole-Bond 1938).
Comment Hastings rarities. Not acceptable.
