370 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



a pretty site — but all the same unhappily selected, since 

 the locality was continually being subjected to a " drop- 

 ping " artillery fire. I had hopes of being able to see the 

 young, but after four days of sitting the birds deserted 

 the nest. The extraordinary sense of smell possessed by 

 the Thick-knee renders a near approach to the nest 

 without disturbing the birds difficult." 



Mr. T. Hepburn, in his notes on the birds on the 

 beach at Dungeness, in 1900, writes : " The local name 

 of the Stone-Curlew is ' Night-Hawk.' Several pairs of 

 these birds still breed on the beach, but they are by no 

 means common, and all the coastguards' and fishermen's 

 sons know that the two eggs have a marketable value. 

 May 14, 1900 : I saw one of these birds fly up from the 

 beach, and on looking along the ridge from about which 

 it flew, I found its two eggs lying on the shingle. The 

 apology for a nest in which they lay was simply a hollow 

 scratched out of the shingle, measuring about 7 inches in 

 diameter and f inch deep. The two eggs were laid fully 

 2 inches apart, end to end. I was told by a fisherman 

 that they are never laid close together. Surrounding the 

 hollow were several pieces of broom, which had the 

 appearance of having been put there by the bird. One 

 egg was rather larger than the other, and the same 

 fisherman as I have mentioned above said that they 

 always call the larger egg a cock's egg, meaning that 

 a male bird would be hatched out of it. The same day 

 another pair of these eggs were offered to me for sale, 

 and I was mformed of a further pair having been found 

 two days previously. This shows that there are several 

 pairs breeding on the beach, and also that they must 

 find it a difficult inatter to bring their business to a 

 satisfactory conclusion." 



