92 NATURAL HISTORY “OF SSEZLBORNE. 
naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the stone-curlew, ed7- 
cnemus, sends me the following account: “‘In looking over my 
Naturalist’s Journal for the month of April, I find the stone-curlews 
are first mentioned on the seventeenth and eighteenth, which date 
seems to me rather late. They live with us all the spring and 
summer, and at the beginning of autumn prepare to take leave by 
getting together in flocks. They seem to me a bird of passage that 
may travel into some dry hilly country south of us, probably Spain, 
because of the abundance of sheep-walks in that country ; for they 
spend their summers with us in such districts. This conjecture I 
hazard, as I have never met with any one that has seen them in 
England in the winter. I believe they are not fond of going near 
the water, but feed on earth-worms, that are common on sheep- 
walks and downs. They breed on fallows and lay-fields abounding 
with grey mossy flints, which much resemble their young in colour; 
among which they skulk and conceal themselves. They make no 
nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, producing in common 
but two atatime. There is reason to think their young run soon 
after they are hatched ; and that the old ones do not feed them, but 
only lead them about at the time of feeding, which, for the most 
part, is in the night.” Thus far, my friend. 
In the manners of this bird you see there is something very 
analogous to the bustard, whom it also somewhat resembles in 
aspect and make, and in the structure of its feet.* 
* The bustard is only mentioned twice in White’s Letters, above where referred to, and 
in Letter II. to Barrington, p. 123. Mitford has the following note. ‘‘ The bustard is 
extinct in England: and as it is now so scarce in Scotland owing to population and 
enclosures, it becomes interesting to remark that two birds of this kind (male and female) 
have been kept in the garden-ground belonging to the Norwich Infirmary, and have been 
but lately sold by the owner of them, The male bird was very beautiful and courageous, 
apparently afraid of nothing, seizing any one that came near him by the coat, yet on the 
appearance of any small hawk high in the air, he would squat close to the ground, ex- 
pressing strong marks of fear. ‘The female was very shy.” In England they may be 
said to be almost extirpated, or if a few do remain they will not long be preserved. Upon 
the continent, however, as we learn by a very interesting paper.read before the Linnzean 
Society, by Mr. Yarrell, in January last, they are still abundant, particularly in some 
parts of Spain, upon the extensive grass marches which stretch along the banks of the 
Guadalquiver, and in the corn plains of Seville; but the important part of this paper is a 
correction of an anatomical error which has been handed down and copied, and the parts 
figured even in the most recent ornithological works. Edwards in his ‘‘ Gleanings” 
figures a gular pouch, supposed to be a bag for the purpose of holding water, when in 
desert lands or removed from it. This was given upon the authority of Dr. Douglas, of 
the College of Physicians in London. Mr. Yarrell, anxious to satisfy himself of the 
presence of this pouch or bag, took the opportunity of a mature male bustard dying in 
the Zoological Gardens, to examine this structure. He carefully did so, but could find 
no enlargement of the membrane or any sac. Not satisfied with his own accuracy, he 
examined the descriptions of animals dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at 
Paris, where he was equally unsuccessful; and he concludes his interesting paper in the 
following words : ‘‘ Unwilling, however, to offer my statement to the notice of the Linnzan 
Society without consulting the best living authority in this country, namely, Professor 
Owen, I mentioned the subject to him, and had the satisfaction to find that Mr. Owen 
