W. FARREN: STONE - CURLEW. 



303 



other Plovers are not deficient in protective devices ; they 

 all practise the crouching habit to a certain extent, and all 

 assimilate well with their surroundings. But the dis- 

 tinguishing character, which places the Stone-Curlew in a 

 class by itself, is its perfect mastery of the crouching 

 habit. While the young of Plovers and other ground 

 nesting birds run to, and take advantage of the slightest 

 cover by crouching, the young Stone-Curlew can hide 



Fig. 1. — The crouching attitude of newly-hatched young. 



more effectually, by an extreme phase of the same attitude, 

 on the barest ground. While in all other Plovers the 

 parents endeavour to save their young, partly by uttering 

 warning cries, and partly by endeavouring to distract and 

 draw off the suspected enemy, the Stone-Curlew trusts 

 entirely to the crouching of its young and remains silent 

 and out of the way. Human intelligence is not taken 

 account of in natural devices, but still one would have 

 thought, considering natural enemies only, that the young 

 of the Ringed Plover, and other birds with small and 

 protectively coloured broods, would be more likely to 



