33S PLOVERS. 



plaintive cry. All arc good and wholesome food, and some are 

 not surpassed by any game birds. 



This f:imily includes the Thick-knees, the Coursers, the Pra- 

 tincoles, the True Plovers, the Oyster-catchers, and the Turnstones. 



Siib-Fmnily I. 

 THE TIIICK-KNEES. (EDICNEMIX.E.* 



General Characteristics.— Bill as long as or lonqer than the head, with the cul- 

 men slightly depressed at the base and swollen at the tip, and the gonys more or 

 less angulated ; the tarsi lengthened, with three rather short toes in front. 



The Thick-knees are migratory birds, inhabiting all parts of 

 the world except North America, seeking the more temperate 

 regions to rear their young, and the warmer latitudes to pass the 

 winter. Their periodical flights are performed in flocks during 

 the night with great swiftness. These birds are generally found 

 in uncultivated open moorlands. Their food is sought for during 

 the evening or at night. It consists of small quadrupeds and 

 reptiles, but especially of worms and insects. During the day 

 the thick-knees sit closely squatted beneath a stone or any other 

 object sufficiently large to hide them ; but if disturbed, they fly 

 to a short distance, and then run off with great rapidity to some 

 place of refuge. The female deposits two eggs on the bare sur- 

 face of the ground. The young are capable of following their 

 irent as soon as they escape 1 



The type of this sub-family- 



The Common Thick-knee {(Edicnamis crepitans), or, as it is frequently 

 called, the Norfolk Plover and Stone Curlew^ is a migratory bird, and one of 

 cur regular summer visitors. It generally arrives in England about the end 

 of April or the beginning of May, and after performing the duties attendant 

 upon incubation, as autumn advances, collects into flocks, and soon after 

 retires into Africa and the warmer latitudes of Europe, to pass the winter 

 months. Wide hilly downs seem to afford situations that suit the economy 

 of this bird, and in such localities it passes the period of its residence with us. 



The thick-knee is not destitute of courage, and it has been seen to defend 

 its nest with vigour against the approach of sheep, or e\cn dogs ; yet it is 

 singularly shy, and carefully avoids human beings. When disturbed, it runs 

 rapidly, and, if it does take wing, flies for a considerable distance near the 



• qIUw, oideo, to ru/ell; KvyiiJ.ii, kneme, the leg: having swollen legs. 



