302 BRITISH BIRDS. 



congeners. When disturbed whilst sitting, it slips from 

 its eggs and runs some distance before taking flight, as do 

 the other Plovers, but it leaves the eggs sooner and runs 

 further than the others. With its head held close in to 

 its shoulders and with quick stealthy gait, the Stone- 

 Curlew runs on and does not take to flight, and thus reveal 

 its presence, until it is at such a distance from the eggs 

 that their whereabouts are not thus disclosed. That is if 

 it takes to flight at all, for more often than not it will, at 

 a safe distance, stop and stand perfectly still, or prostrate 

 itself on the ground. And whether running, standing, 

 crouching, or flying low over the ground, the coloration 

 of its plumage, together with the difficulty of retaining 

 a clear visual impression over the sandy, flint-flecked soil, 

 renders it almost invisible to any but the most practised 

 eyes. 



The colour and irregularity of the markings of the eggs 

 of all Plovers form a distinctly protective pattern, but none 

 assimilate with their surroundings quite so closely as do 

 those of the Stone-Curlew. 



When the young are hatched it is no longer a case of 

 the Stone-Curlew simply excelling the other species of the 

 family in protective measures, its habits have become so 

 highly specialised that the difference at this stage is not 

 so much of degree as of kind. 



The Lapwing flies to and fro over the spot where its 

 young are hiding, with querulous cries, admonishing its 

 chicks to lie low, and endeavouring to beguile the intruder 

 away. But the Stone-Curlew believes not in noisy 

 demonstration nor in such devices as simulating an injury, 

 and struggling over the ground in frenzied attempts to 

 divert attention from its young to itself, as do the species 

 of, for instance, jEgialitis, 



At all ages the young Stone-Curlew provides a most 

 remarkable example of protective coloration, the curious 

 short sandy coloured down, the texture of which is like 

 close cm-led wool, with slightly broken longitudinal dark 

 stripes, blends exactly with the sandy soil. The young of 



