54 PLOVER GROUP 



Three specially noteworthy features may be mentioned in connec- 

 tion with the stone-curlew, namely, the perfect manner in which its 

 plumage harmonises with the colouring of a bare ston)- plain, the large 

 size of its full, round, yellow eye, and the remarkable manner in which 

 the bird endeavours to make itself as inconspicuous as possible by 

 lying down with its body and outstretched head and neck pressed 

 quite close to the ground, when it may be easily mistaken for an 

 irregularly shaped stone, on which the eyes form small dark blotches. 

 In this mode of concealing itself the stone-curlew exhibits another mark 

 of affinity with the bustards. The large eyes of this bird clearly pro- 

 claim that it is to a considerable extent nocturnal, or crepuscular ; 

 and this is rendered certain by the fact that the long wailing cry from 

 which it derives its name of stone-curlew is heard more frequently in 

 the evening and at night (especially when there is moonlight) than in 

 the daytime. Its food appears to be entirely of an animal nature, and 

 comprises beetles and other insects, worms, snails, etc. The eggs, 

 which in England appear to be always two in number, although in 

 India there may be three, are laid on the bare ground among loose 

 pebbles or stones, which they so closely resemble as to be exceedingly 

 difficult to detect. In length they measure from just below 2 inches 

 to nearly 2^ inches ; and their colour is dark or light stone with 

 irregular spots or blotches of brown or blackish, with faint grey 

 inferior markings. Stone-curlews afford good sport with the hawk, in 

 escaping from which they have been known to take refuge in rabbit- 

 holes. The flesh is said to be excellent for the table. 



, With the cream-coloured courser and the species 

 Cream-coloured ,. i- 1 i- 1 



next on our list we come to two birds which are 



Courser , . . ,-,-.••, t . 1 1 1 



,„ . ,,. , such rare visitors to the British Isles that they have 



(Cupsorius gallicus). . , , , • 1 



no native names and are consequently designated 



by what may be called artificial titles. Together with certain other 



birds altogether unrepresented in Britain they constitute a family, the 



Glareolidai, which connects in some degree the stone-curlews with the 



plovers, and is entirely confined to the eastern hemisphere. Affinity 



with the stone-curlews is indicated, for instance, by the fact that in the 



Egyptian plover {Pluvianus ccgyptiacjis) the aperture of the nostrils is 



oval in the dried skull, whereas in the other forms it is of the slit-like 



plover-type ; while the coursers display a similar kinship in the loss 



of the hind-toe. Collectively the group is characterised externally by 



the oval nostrils being impervious, more or less protected by flaps of 



membrane, and situated in a depression instead of a groove ; while 



