STONE CURLEW. 129 



autumn, seeming to advance in pairs towards the northward, 

 for the sake of breeding during the summer months, and 

 retiring in parties and broods towards the south at the 

 decline of the year ; so that the rock of Gibraltar is the 

 great rendezvous and place of observation, from whence they 

 take their departure each way towards Europe or Africa. It 

 is therefore no mean discovery, I think, to find that our 

 small short-winged summer birds of passage are to be seen, 

 spring and autumn, on the very skirts of Europe ; it is a 

 presumptive proof of their emigrations. 



Scopoli seems to me to have found the Mrundo melba (the 

 great Gibraltar swift) in Tyrol, without knowing it. For 

 what is the Mrundo alpina, but the aforementioned bird in 

 other words ? Says he, " Omnia prioris (meaning the swift) 

 sed pectus album; paulo major prior e" "All the marks of 

 the former but the white breast; a little larger than the 

 former." I do not suppose this to be a new species. It is 

 true also of the melba, that " nidificat in excelsis Alpiwn 

 rupibus" It builds its nest in the lofty cliffs of the Alps. 

 Yid. Annum Frimum. 



My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good sense, 

 but no naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the ston6 

 curlew (oedicnemus'), 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 17th and 

 18th, 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 at a time. 

 There is reason to think their young run soon after they are 



