THE STONE-CURLEW 



THE STONE-CURLEW 

 [W. FARREN] 



The family (Edicnemidce, of which the stone-curlew is the sole 

 British representative, the Glareolidce (Coursers, Pratincoles) and 

 the Charadriidce (Plovers, Snipes, Sandpipers, etc.) constitute, together 

 with three other families 1 not represented on the British List, the 

 suborder Limicolce. This suborder forms part of the order Charadrii- 

 /ormes, to which also belong the groups dealt with in the preceding 

 chapters, the Doves, Sandgrouse, the Gulls with their close allies 

 the Terns and Skuas, and the Auks. 



Although the familiar term Wader implies a habit that of wading 

 into shallow water in search of food which is not shared by all 

 Limicoline birds, yet it is the term in general use for the whole group 

 or suborder, in which sense it is used in this work. 



The Limicolce are of world-wide distribution, and contain over 

 250 species. Of these, only a comparatively small number, at present 

 (1911) 61, are on the British List. Of these 17 including the ruff, 

 which, however, is very rare and irregular as a nesting species breed 

 with us, and 44 visit us on migration, of which 29 may be classed as 

 rare stragglers. This comparatively large number of stragglers is 

 accounted for by the wandering nature of the group, certain species 

 belonging to both the New and Old Worlds, and travelling farther 

 on migration than almost any other birds. Some species nest beyond 

 the Arctic Circle, and winter in South Africa, South America, and 

 Australia. The majority of the species coming under this category 

 of rare stragglers are natives of North America, and some are Asiatic. 



To the summer migrants belongs the subject of this chapter, 

 the stone-curlew, also known as the great-plover, Norfolk-plover, 

 thick-knee. From these names it is not easy to choose one more 



1 Chionididce, Thinocorythidoe, Parridce. 



