THE STONE-CURLEW 235 



is resident in North Africa, but the migration limits of our form 

 hardly at any time extend below Upper Egypt and Nubia. 



North of the Mediterranean region it is a summer visitor to 

 those parts of temperate Europe where barren wastes, suitable to its 

 special requirements, occur. It does not extend far to the north, 

 breeding sparingly in North Germany, and occasionally straggling to 

 Denmark. In our own country it may be found in the chalk-wolds 

 of the southern counties, and two or three pairs nest as far north 

 as East Yorkshire. A few pairs nest annually on the inland side 

 of the vast pebble-beach at Dungeness, 1 and occasionally an odd pair 

 on the sandhills of East Norfolk ; otherwise it is purely an inland 

 species. 



In no part of England, however, is it so plentiful as in the 

 sparsely populated region of north-west Suffolk and south-west 

 Norfolk known as the Breck district. The conditions most essential 

 to the special habits of the stone-curlew are wide stretches of open 

 country, sandy soil, with cultivated fields and marsh-land not too 

 far away. Wherever it flourishes in any number, these conditions 

 are almost certain to be found. The Breck district provides these 

 conditions in an ideal manner ; almost desolate, undulating plains 

 of flint-flecked sand, utterly devoid in parts of any sort of vegetation, 

 in others, covered with mosses and lichens and scattered tufts of 

 wiry grass. Here and there occur areas where a semi-cultivation 

 chiefly to provide food and cover for game has encouraged the 

 growth of flowering plants, viper's-bugloss, poppies, campion, and 

 thistles, which in their season enliven the scene with a blaze of 

 colour. The ubiquitous bracken flourishes in all directions, either 

 scattered thinly over the lichen-covered sand, or growing in dense 

 profusion where it finds suitable soil. The general monotony of 



1 Owing to persecution the numbers breeding at Dungeness have been subject to consider- 

 able fluctuation : Dr. N. F. Ticehurst says that throughout the nineties there were probably 

 no more than four or five pairs in the whole area. Owing, however, to the efficient protection 

 now afforded them, the numbers have increased considerably, and there is now a strong 

 colony. Cf. N. F. Ticehurst, Birds of Kent, pp. 407-411. 



VOL. in. 2n 



