478 THE FEATHERED TRIbES. 



THE STONE CURLEW. 



This bii'd is ncai'ly allied to the Bastards. The upper parts arc of a reddish ashj'- 

 Lrowu, with a longitudinal dash on the middle of each feather ; the space between the 

 eye and the bill, throat, belly, and thighs, pure white ; the neck and breast are slightly 

 coloured Avitli reddisb, and speckled with longitudinal brown streaks ; there is a longi- 

 tudinal white band on the wing ; towards the middle of the first quill there is a great 

 white dash, and a very small one on the inner barb of the second; the lower tail-coverts 

 arc rudd)^ ; and the qvull-feathers, except those of the middle, are terminated with black. 

 The base of the bill is bright yellowish, the rest black ; the naked skin round the eyes, 

 iris, and feet, is a pure yellow. The length of the bird from the bill to the feet is 

 sixteen inches two lines. 



Such are the adult birds, according to Temminck's description ; but the plumage 

 varies in some individuals. Tlius in a specimen figured by IMr. Gould, there is, he says, an 

 obscure bar of white above and below the eye, and the ground colour of the flanks and 

 under surface is yellowish-white, whilst the yellow toes and feet are described as having 

 a tinge of green. 



This species is rapid on foot and powerful in flight, which it executes in wide circles, 

 and haunting downs and open places, is generally ajiproached with difficulty by the 

 sportsman, though it will often squat in places favourable to its colour, till the bird is 

 almost trod upon. The shrill evening cry of these birds may be heard nearly a mile on 

 a still night. Slugs, worms, and reptiles are their favourite food. 



White says, in a letter to Pennant : "I wonder that the stone-curlew should be 

 mentioned by writers as a rare kind; it abounds in all the champaign parts of Hampshire 

 and Sussex, and breeds, I think, all the summer, having young ones, I know, very late in 

 the autumn." The same charming writer states, that these birds haunt onl^' the most 

 dry, open, upland fields, and sheep-walks far removed from water. The stone-curlew 

 "lays," he says, "its eggs, usually two, never more than three, on the bare ground, 

 without any nest, in the field ; so that the countryman, in stirring his fallows, often 

 destroys them. The young run immediately from the egg, like the partridges, &c., and 

 are withdrawn to some flinty field by the dam, where they sculk among the stones which 

 are their best security ; for their feathers are so exactly of the colour of our gray-spotted 

 Hints, that the most exact observer, unless he catches the eye of the young bird, may be 

 eluded .... (Edicncmm is a most apt and expressive name for them, since their legs 

 seems swollen like those of a gouty man. Ai^er har\-est, I have shot them before the 

 jiointers in turnip-fields." In his MS. the same author remarks, tliat they seem to 

 descend in the night to streams and meadows, perhaps for water, which their ujdand 

 haunts do not aft'ord them. 



This bird is distributed in Europe generally, where it seems to be migratory iu man}' 

 part.s, in Britain and Germany for instance. Tcmminck notes it as abundant in the south 

 of France (in which country, Below found young ones that could not fly at the end of 

 Gctober), Italy, Saidinia, the Greek Archipelago, and Turke3^ It is also found in Asia 

 and Africa. It occurred among the Trebizond collection of birds presented to the 

 Zoological Society of Loudon, by JNIr. Keith Abbot ; and the localities attributed to it by 

 Mr. Gould are Europe and Africa, but not India. Colonel Sykes, however, had 

 previou.sly recorded it among the birds of the Deccan : at least, he says, " there is no 

 visible dift'erence between the Dukhun and British species." If it be the Charadrius 

 Kervari of Ilassehiuist, which Linnxus and most author.s suppose it to be, that traveller 

 describes it as inhabiting Lower Egypt, near the sepulchres, and in the deserts. In 



• Q'ldicuiniub tri'i)itaiis. — Tcmm. 



