STONE -CURLEW, 59 



marked attachment exists between old and young, of 

 which Mr. Lubbock, in his "Fauna," gives a curious 

 instance. An old bird, which had been shot at and 

 slightly wounded in the pinion, having been turned 

 loose into a walled-in garden, became exceedingly 

 clamorous at sunrise, the following morning, and thus 

 attracted a young one to the place of its confinement. 

 This, after some difficulty, was also captured, and 

 exhibited the greatest satisfaction at regaining its 

 parent, seemingly quite indifferent to its own liberty. 

 In June and July old and young together are frequently 

 flushed from the turnips in the vicinity of their breeding 

 grounds, and previous to their departure in October they 

 collect together in considerable numbers; in some places, 

 as before stated, amounting to over a hundred in a flock, 

 and in former times probably as many more. Although 

 the main body, however, leave us thus early in the 

 autumn, stragglers are not unfrequently observed during 

 the winter months, and at times, when the mildness of 

 the season can in no way be alleged as the cause of 

 their remaining so late. Mr. Salmon, in his notes on 

 this species ("Mag. Nat. Hist.," 1836, p. 524), alluding 

 to their usual departure in October, remarks " Should 

 the weather continue open a few will remain to a much 

 later period," and instances his having " started one as 

 late as the 9th of December, in the autumn of 1834." 

 Mr. Lubbock also says, "It stays very late before it 

 migrates ; in mild seasons to the very end of November, 

 and even into December." On the 15th of December, 

 1846, as recorded by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher ("Zoolo- 

 gist," 1847, p. 1601), a single bird was killed at Ludham, 

 and the following instances have since come under my 

 own notice : 



1851. On December 4th, during severe frost and 

 snow, a great-plover, in good condition, was shot at 

 Potter Heigham. 

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