CEDICNEMID^.. 



529 





THE STONE-CURLEW. 



Q^DiCNEMUS scoLOPAX (S. G. Gmelin). 



The Stone-Curlew is often called the Thick-knee, owing to the 

 swelling observable at the knee-joints in young birds and which dis- 

 appears with increasing age ; while another name for it is Norfolk 

 Plover, with reference to its comparative abundance on the extensive 

 ' brecks ' and warrens of East Anglia. It comes to this country, as a 

 rule, in April, and, after assembling in flocks in the early autumn, 

 leaves in October; but a few have been known to remain until Decem- 

 ber, and on January 30th 1895 (one of the most severe seasons on 

 record) a bird was killed in Lincolnshire ; while in Cornwall and 

 South Devon a tolerable number pass the winter. The Stone- 

 Curlew is especially partial to chalk downs, open heaths, and 

 dry sandy soils, such as are found in Dorset, Wilts, Hants, Sussex, 

 Kent (where it lays its eggs on the shingle in Romney Marsh 

 as well as on the neighbouring uplands), Berkshire, the counties 

 along the north side of the Thames, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, 

 Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. It is also known to have 



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