252 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Stone Curlew are invariably two in this 

 country, but Hume states that in India three are some- 

 times found. They range from clay-colour to yellowish- 

 white in ground, blotched, spotted, or streaked with brown 

 of various shades, sometimes nearly black, and with 

 underlying markings of violet-gray. Two very distinct 

 types are presented, one blotched and spotted with light 

 and dark brown, the other streaked with similar colour ; 

 both being marked with gray. On some varieties most 

 of the spots form a zone round the larger end of the &%^ ; 

 on others the markings are evenly distributed over the 

 entire surface. On some the blotches are more or less 

 connected with streaks. A rare variety has few markings 

 of any kind. On some the surface-spots predominate ; 

 on others the gray underlying ones are most numerous. 

 Average measurement, 2"i inches in length, by v^ inch 

 in breadth. Incubation, performed by both sexes, lasts, 

 according to Naumann, about seventeen days ; other 

 authorities state a month. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the Stone 

 Curlew are very characteristic, and can only possibly be 

 confused with those of the Oystercatcher, from which, 

 however, they may be distinguished by their smaller size 

 and paler markings, brown rather than black. 



