The Slender-billed Curlew, Numenius tenuirostris, `the slim beak of the new moon`, is one of the world`s rarest birds. It once bred in Siberia & wintered in the Mediterranean basin, passing through the wetlands & estuaries of Italy, Greece, the Balkans & Central Asia. Today the Slender-billed Curlew exists as a rumour, a ghost species surrounded by unconfirmed sightings & speculation. The only certainty is that it now stands on the brink of extinction. Birds are key environmental indicators. Their health or hardship has a message for us about the planet, & our future. What does the fate of the Slender-billed Curlew mean for us, & for the natural world? What happened to it, & why? In Orison for a Curlew Horatio Clare journeys through a fractured Europe in search of the Slender-billed Curlew, following the bird`s migratory path on an odyssey that takes us into the lives of the men & women who have fought to save the landscapes to which the bird belongs. This is a story of beauty, triumph, & the struggles of conservation. It is a homage to a bird which may never be seen again.