CHARADUIADJ3. 



CHARADRIAD^I. 



fl!2 



coloured with reddish and speckled with longitudinal brown streaks ; 

 a longitudinal white band on the wing ; towards the middle of the 

 first quill a great white dash, and a very small one on the interior 

 barb of the second ; lower tail-coverts ruddy ; quill-feathers, except 

 those of the middle, terminated with black ; base of the bill bright- 

 yellowish, the rest black ; naked skin round the eyes, iris, and feet, 

 pure yellow. Length from the bill to the feet 16 inches 2 lines. 

 Male and Female. 



Great Plover (ll-'.dictieuiits crfjjitfins), 



Such is Temminck's description of the adult bird ; but the plumage 

 varies in some individuals. For instance, in the specimen figured 

 and described by Gould, in his ' Birds of Europe,' there is an obscure 

 bar of white above and below the eye, and the ground-colour of the 

 flanks and under surface ia stated to be yellowish-white ; whilst the 

 yellow toes and feet are noticed as having a tinge of green. 



The young birds have the colours less distinct, and are detected 

 at the first glance by the highly dilated form of the upper part of 

 the tarsus and by the size of the knee-joint. Temminck, who gives 

 this description, adds that this form of the tarsus exists in the young 

 of the year of all species of birds with long slender legs, but is 

 particularly remarkable in the young ff.'dicnemi. 



Rapid on foot, powerful in flight, which it executes in wide circles, 

 and haunting downs and open places, this species is in general 

 approached with difficulty by the sportsman, though it will often 

 squat in places favourable to its colour, till it is almost trod on. 

 Their shrill evening cry pierces the ear, and may be heard nearly a 

 mile in a still night. Slugs, worms, reptiles, and, some say, mice are 

 eaten by them ; but the two former seem to be their favourite food. 

 White, in a letter to Pennant, dated 30th March, 1768, says, "I 

 wonder that the Stone Curlew (Ckaradritu (Edicnemut) should be 

 mentioned by writers as a rare kind : it abounds in all the campaign 

 part* of Hampshire and Sussex, and breeds, I think, all the summer, 

 having young ones, I know, very late in the autumn. Already they 

 begin clamouring in the evening. They cannot, I think, with any 

 propriety be called, as they are by Mr. Ray, ' circa aquas versantes ;' 

 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." No nest receives the eggs, which are 

 two or three in number, of a light brown or dirty white, with dusky 

 blood-coloured blotches and streaks. " It lays," says the author of 

 the ' History of Selborne/ " 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 with- 

 drawn to some flinty field by. the dam, where they sculk 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, may be eluded. . . . 

 (Edicncmvu is a most apt and expressive name for them, since their 

 legs aeern swollen like those of a gouty man. After harvest I have 

 shot them before the pointers in turnip-fields." In his Manuscript the 

 same author remarks that they seem to descend in the night to 

 streams and meadows, perhaps for water, which their upland haunts 

 do not afford them. 



Geographical Distribution. Europe generally, where it seems to 

 be migratory in many parts, in Britain and Germany for instance. 

 Temminck notes it as abundant in the south of France (in which 

 country Belon found young ones that could not fly at the end of 

 October), Italy, Sardinia, the Greek Archipelago, and Turkey. It is 

 al.*> found in Asia and Africa. It occurred among the Trebizond 

 collection of birds presented to the Zoological Society of London by 



Mr. Keith Abbott ; and the localities attributed to it by M r. Gould 

 are Europe and Africa, but not India. ('Zool. Proc.,' 1834.) Col. 

 Sykes however had previously recorded it among the birds of the 

 Deccan : at least he says "there is no visible difference between the 

 Dukhun and British species." ('Zool. Proc.,' 1832.) If it be the 

 Charadrius Kenan of Hasselquist, which Linnaeus and most authors 

 suppose it to be, that traveller describes it as inhabiting Lower Egypt, 

 near the sepulchres, and in the deserts. In Britain it arrives early in 

 the spring. The following is the earliest period recorded by White : 

 " On the 27th of February, 1788, Stone Curlews were heard to pipe ; 

 and on March 1st, after it was dark, some were passing over the 

 village, as might be perceived by their quick short note, which they 

 use in their nocturnal excursions by way of watch-word, that they 

 may not stray and lose their companions. Thus we see that retire 

 whithersoever they may in the winter, they return again early in the 

 spring, and are, as it now appears, the first siimrner birds that come 

 back. Perhaps the mildness of the season may have quickened the 

 emigration of the curlews this year." They are seldom seen after the 

 beginning of October ; but Markwick states that he received on the 

 31st January, 1792, a bird of this species which had been recently 

 killed by a neighbouring farmer, who said that he had frequently 

 seen it in his fields (Sussex) during the former part of the winter. 

 This, perhaps, adds Markwick, was an occasional straggler, which, by 

 some accident, was prevented from accompanying its companions in 

 their migration. As the autumn advances, these birds collect into 

 flocks, soon after which they leave this country. Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 Kent, and Hampshire seem to be the favourite counties of the Stone 

 Curlew ; but it occurs, though rarely, in the Yorkshire Wolds, higher 

 than which it does not seem to go in these islands. Mr. Selby says 

 that he never met with it or heard of it in the more northern English 

 counties, nor in Scotland. It does not occur in Mr. Thompson's Irish 

 list in the ' Zoological Proceedings.' 



The Great Plover is a delicate bird for the table. 



In the ' Portraits d'Oyseaux,' the following quatrain well describes 

 the bird and the reason for the name given to it by Belon : 



" L'on pcut nommer cestuy-cy Ostardeau, 

 Parcequ'il est approchant de 1'Ostarde. 

 Qui sous Ic ply dcs gcnoux 1'os reffardo, 

 Lc trouve gros plus qu' a nul autrc oysenu." 



Cursoriut. Bill as long as head ; mandibles arched, and compressed 

 towards their extremities ; base depressed ; tip sharp and entire ; 

 nostrils basal, oval, with an oblong lateral opening. First quill 

 longest. Legs long ; three front toes separated throughout ; middle 

 toe much the longest, with a serrated claw. 



O. Temminetii, Black-Bellied Courier, Swainson. The following is 

 Mr. Swainson's specific character and description : "Cream-coloured 

 brown ; top of the head and breast ferruginous, nuchal collar double ; 

 the lower, with the quills and middle of the body, black ; the upper 

 and the sides of the body white. Total length from the bill to the 

 tail 'eight inches ; bill one inch from the gape, and half from the end 



Black-Bellied Courier (Ciirsorius Teinmihckii). 



of the nostrils. Legs three inches from the naked thigh to the tip of 

 the middle toe, the claw of which is serrated internally. Tail round ; 

 the middle feathers not spotted ; the two next with a black dot near 

 the tip, which, in the next pair, is further broken into two white dots ; 

 the outer pair white." ('Zool. Illust.,' pi. 106, first series). It 

 inhabits Africa (Abyssinia.) 



