CURLEW 129 
its home in Alaska and winters in the islands of the Pacific. In this 
bird the shaft of most of the feathers clothing its legs is produced 
into a long glistening bristle. 
2. The Curlew of inlanders, or Stonn-CURLEW—called also, by 
some writers, from its stronghold in this country, the Norfolk 
Plover, and most wrongly and absurdly the 
Thick-Knee or Thick-Kneed Bustard—is 
usually classed among the Charadriidx, but 
it offers several remarkable differences from 
the more normal Plovers. It is the Chara- 
drius edicnemus of Linneeus, the C. scolopas Stone-CURLEW. 
of Sam. Gottl. Gmelin, and the @dicnemus (aberemanene) 
crepitans of 'Temminck. With much the same cry as that of the 
Numenvi, only uttered in a far sweeter tone, it is as fully en- 
titled to the name of Curlew as the bird most commonly so 
called. In England it is almost solely a summer - visitor, 
though an example will occasionally linger throughout a mild 
winter; and is one of the few birds whose distribution with 
us is affected by geological formation, since it is nearly limited to 
the chalk-country—the open spaces of which it haunts, and its 
numbers have of late years been sensibly diminished by their 
enclosure. The most barren spots in these districts, even where 
but a superficial coating of light sand and a thin growth of turf 
scarcely hide the chalk below, supply its needs; though at night 
(and it chiefly feeds by night) it resorts to moister and more fertile 
places. Its food consists of snails, coleopterous insects, and earth- 
worms, but larger prey, as a mouse or a frog, is not rejected. 
Without making the slightest attempt at a nest, it lays its two 
eggs on a level spot, a bare fallow being often chosen. These are 
not very large, and in colour so closely resemble the sandy, flint- 
strewn surface that their detection except by a practised eye is 
difficult. The bird, too, trusts much to its own drab colouring to 
elude observation, and, on being disturbed, will frequently run for 
a considerable distance and then squat with outstretched neck so 
as to become almost invisible. In such a case it may be closely 
approached, and its large golden eye, if it do not pass for a tuft of - 
yellow lichen, is perhaps the first thing that strikes the searcher. 
As autumn advances the Stone-Curlew gathers in large flocks, and 
then is as wary as its namesake. Towards October these take their 
departure, and their survivors return, often with wonderful con- 
stancy, to their beloved haunts (see MIGRATION). In size this species 
exceeds any other European Plover, and looks even still larger than 
it is. The bill is short, blunt, and stout; the head large, broad, 
and flat at the top. The wings and legs long—the latter present- 
ing a singular enlargement of the tibio-tarsal joint, whence the 
name (dicnemus has been conferred, The toes are short and fleshy, 
9 
