STONE-CUKLEW. 



61 



they should return northward, in such weather, at an 

 unusually early period. 



My own opportunities of observing this species have 

 been somewhat limited, but in May, 1864, in company 

 with my friend Mr. Dix (who, as a resident at that time 

 at West Harling, was well acquainted with their haunts), 

 I had every facility, with the help of a good glass, for 

 studying their habits in a wild state. In that neigh- 

 bourhood, on the open " Brecks," the eggs are usually 

 laid on some slightly rising ground, whence a good look 

 out is kept, and where it is almost impossible to come 

 upon the birds by surprise. If the exact spot is known, 

 long before any near approach can be made, the old bird 

 may be seen to rise slowly to its feet, and with arched 

 back, like a French partridge, walk slowly off for a few 

 yards, when, if further pressed, the pace quickens, and 

 joined probably by its mate, from you know not where 

 so like are their tints to the surrounding soil the pair 

 rise on the wing, and with a strong quick flight, and 

 outstretched legs, betake themselves to some distant part 

 of the field, uttering at intervals their loud tremulous 

 whistle. As ground-breeders they are necessarily ex- 

 posed to many dangers, their eggs being so generally 

 taken when discovered, and though carrion-crows are 

 scarce in this game-preserving county, the rooks, 

 especially in dry seasons, are scarcely less active as 

 egg stealers. In this respect Mr. Dix considers that 

 the eggs are safer when laid in the middle of a wide 

 open field, than, as is often the case, when situated 

 within some fifty yards of a large fir " slip" or planta- 



12th, 1867, a single bird is recorded as having been killed at Char- 

 mouth, Dorset, on the 4th. To these may be added the still more 

 strange occurrence of a solitary specimen in Fifeshire, on the 27th 

 of January, 1858, as stated by Mr. W. P. Turnbull in his "Birds 

 of East Lothian," which, according to that author, is the only one 

 known to have appeared in that locality. 



