Curlew

Curlew
Long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus) Fishing Pier, Goose Island State Park, Texas
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Scolopacidae
Genus:	Numenius Brisson, 1760
Type species
Scolopax arquata Linnaeus, 1758
Species
N. phaeopus N. hudsonicus N. tenuirostris N. arquata N. americanus N. madagascariensis N. minutus †(?)N. borealis N. tahitiensis
Synonyms
Palnumenius Miller, 1942

The curlews (/ˈkɜːrljuː/) are a group of nine species of birds in the genus Numenius, characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been influenced by the Old French corliu, "messenger", from courir , "to run". It was first recorded in 1377 in Langland's Piers Plowman "Fissch to lyue in þe flode..Þe corlue by kynde of þe eyre".^[1] In Europe, "curlew" usually refers to one species, the Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata).