The Marismas. 17 



the kites, and perhaps as great egg and chick eaters. In 

 fact, I feel sure that a harrier has a far more profitable 

 journey across the marismas than a kite ; but he goes 

 about his business in a quiet, unostentatious way, flying 

 low and quartering the ground in a systematic manner, 

 as though he were more of an entomologist than an 

 ornithologist. 



We had often wished to become intimately acquainted 

 with the stone curlew,* sometimes called the thicknee or 

 Norfolk plover, a bird which is to be seen in England only 

 in certain localities. Our wish was gratified on these dry 

 plains, where the bird was common. To a great extent it 

 is a bird of the night, and it was at night, when their 

 stirring notes broke the stillness round the camp, that we 

 began our acquaintance with them. 



The usual note of the stone curlew is a loud harsh 

 cur-er-ree. One night, when sitting round our lamp 

 skinning and writing, in the midst of an angry crowd of 

 mosquitoes which one of our men was vainly endeavour- 

 ing to keep moving with a towel, a stone curlew gave us 

 an extraordinary solo. He appeared to be composing a 

 song. Beginning by rapidly repeating his usual note very 

 softly and in a very low key, he suddenly went up to a very 

 high key, then down again, and so on for quite ten 

 minutes. It was like a human singer going from bass to 

 falsetto, but the bird accomplished it perfectly, without a 

 break, and apparently without an effort. 



In the day these birds are usually silent and in hiding, 

 but they are not to be caught napping. They always 

 seemed to see us before we saw them, which was not to be 

 wondered at, since with their sandy brown plumage they 



(Edicnemus scolopax. 



