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plural curlews
Any of several migratory wading birds in the genus Numenius of the family Scolopacidae, remarkable for their long, slender, downcurved bills. examples
(Australia) A stone curlew. quotations examples
That quivering wail from the billabong lying murkily mystic towards the East was only the cry of the fearing curlew.
1902, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Bush Studies (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 16