60 STONE CURLEW. 



be called, as they are by Mr. Ray, " circa aquas 

 ver sanies " for with us (by day at least) they haunt 

 only the most dry, open, upland fields and sheep- 

 walks, far removed from water : what they may do 

 in the night I cannot say. Worms are their usual 

 food, but they also eat toads and frogs. 



I can show you some good specimens of my new 

 mice. Linnaeus, perhaps, would call the species mus 

 minimus. 



LETTER XVI. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, April 18, 1768. 

 DEAR SIR, 



THE history of the stone curlew, charadrius oedic- 

 nemus, is as follows : It lays its eggs, usually two, 

 never more than three, on the bare ground, without 

 any nest, in the field, so that the countryman, in 

 stirring his fallows, often destroys them. The young 

 run immediately from the egg like partridges, &c. 

 and are withdrawn to some flinty field by the dam, 

 where they skulk among the stones, which are their 

 best security ; for their feathers are so exactly of 

 the colour of our grey spotted flints, that the most 

 exact observer, unless he catches the eye of the 

 young bird, may be eluded. The eggs are short 

 and round, of a dirty white, spotted with dark 

 bloody blotches. Though I might not be able, just 

 when I pleased, to procure you a bird, yet I could 

 show you them almost any day ; and any evening 

 you may hear them round the village ; for they make 

 a clamour which may be heard a mile. Oedicnemus 

 is a most apt and expressive name for them, since 



