dial. [From the cry of the bird.] A local name for the Sanderling (Calidris arenaria), a bird of the snipe family.
1674. Ray, Coll. Words, 90. The Sanderling or Curwillet, so called about Pensans.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 303.
1804. Bewick, Brit. Birds, II. 1. Sanderling, Towillee, or Curwillet.
1885. Swainson, Brit. Birds, 195. Curwillet, Cornwall, a name given to the Sanderling from its cry.
