50 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



LETTER XVI. 



TU THOMAS PENNAKT, ESQ. 



THE history of the stone-curlew, CJiaradrius oedicnemus, 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 



THE Nl'THAT< II 



withdrawn to some flinty field by the dam, where they skulk 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 gray-spotted flints, that the 

 most exact observer, unless he catches the eye of the young bird, 



