Nest of (he Norfolk Plover or Stone-Curlew. 119 



verified his statement. 



These mango groves are very cool and shady; the 

 trees are planted in rows at regular intervals, and in the 

 younger gardens the ground is almost bare of grass and other 

 herbage, while a circle of earth is drawn out from round the 

 trunk of each tree, forming a shallow basin edged by a ridge, 

 fo: the purpose of catching rain water. 



In one of these groves of younger trees I saw a Stone- 

 Curlew running in front of me, on the bare leaf strewn ground 

 near some patches of coarse stubbly grass, and as a forlorn 

 hope I started to search for eggs when the second bird got 

 up suddenly close by from a 'patch of fallen leaves, where it 

 had been squatting. There I .had a brief hope of finding the 

 eggs but there were none, so after some more desultory 

 searching I left the place. 



However, in the evening I .Avent quietly to tlic .spot in 

 in hopes of getting some clu^ to a possible nest by seeing 

 the hen leave it, but was disappointed to rind my orderly al- 

 ready there and the bird on the alert; oiie bird could be seen 

 squatting amongst the leaves where it had been in the morn- 

 ing whilst the other was standing up some 30 yards away 

 under another tree. I again searched the patch of leaves 

 only to be satislied that there at least no eggs had been laid, 

 reluctantly concluding that it was the chosen site where eggs 

 would be deposited later. However^ it scemcdi worth looking 

 also where the second bird had been standing. We were 

 searching about there when my eye was caught by a mass of 

 Doves' droppings on, the ground^ and I was gazing up into 

 the tree Ion a nest when Ahmed Khan, the Orderly, exclaimed : 

 " there's an egg," and so there was, just by my feet I 



1 he soilarly i^^^^^ was laid, without any apparent trace 

 of efforL on the bird's part to prepare a nest, ui\ the top of 

 the low drainage ridge of earth drawn round the tree trunk, 



I left it until the following inorning but no second egg 

 was laid, although it proved to be quite fresh. That day 

 my camp was moving on, so it was not feasible lo wait a 

 second night to make certain that tliis was ihc complete 

 clutch. 



