306 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



ness. When fully fledged, the young show but slightly 

 diminished confidence in the device ; and although I have 

 never witnessed it myself, I have been told by game- 

 keepers that when riding on horseback it is not unusual 

 to come upon an adult Stone-Curlew prostrate on the 

 ground, where it will remain perfectly still while the 

 horse passes within a few feet. 



To return to the downy period — the little birds seem to 

 trust implicitly to their resemblance to the surroundings 



Fig. 3. — The value of the crouching habit on sandy soil. 



and to the crouching attitude, and it is no easy matter 

 to prove to them that they are discovered. I have lifted 

 one from the ground and laid it across two outstretched 

 fingers, yet the rigidity of the attitude has not been 

 relaxed in the slightest, nor has the bird given a sign 

 of life. By dint of much handling and turning the little 

 bird over on its back it may at last realize that it is 

 discovered ; that the deception has failed ; then it takes 

 refuge in the most commonplace of expedients — and runs 

 away ! 



The length of leg now revealed is quite surprising, so is 



