238 THE STONE-CURLEW 



So far as aerial display is concerned, the stone-curlew is not at any 

 time a bird to take delight in sporting on the wing, especially in the 

 daytime, when it is unusual to see them flying except when disturbed, 

 and then quite low over the ground, rising only to cross a belt of 

 trees and then gliding to earth again, where they quickly disappear 

 from sight owing to the harmony of their plumage with the sandy soil. 



The stone-curlew is silent and dignified in his courting, and the 

 female receives his attentions with a dignity and formality equal to 

 his own. In fact, so similarly do both birds behave, that on the few 

 occasions when I have been able to get more than brief glimpses of 

 them at pairing time, it has always been a matter of considerable 

 uncertainty to tell which was the male, no help being afforded by the 

 plumage, which is practically alike in both sexes. No sooner has one 

 bird by a formal bowing, in which the whole body is tilted forward, 

 the beak touching the ground, and the tail held straight above been 

 marked as the male, than the action repeated by the other renews 

 the uncertainty. 



The display seems to be intended not to charm, but to satisfy a 

 desire to posture. Besides the bowing just mentioned, there is 

 another and perhaps more characteristic attitude, which I have seen 

 assumed by both birds at once, never by one only. Standing very 

 erect, with their legs quite straight and body held vertically, they 

 gradually curve the upper part of the neck causing the neck feathers 

 to stand out loosely until the beak is pointing towards the ground. 

 There is nothing suggestive of bowing in this pose, the birds may 

 face in different, in fact quite opposite directions, and they lose very 

 little of their height when the curving of the neck takes place. The 

 posture is assumed very slowly, and when complete is rigidly 

 maintained for a brief spell, and then as slowly relaxed, whereupon 

 the birds may walk away together with stiff propriety, and very 

 conscious of each other's presence. 



This posture has been observed and vividly described l by Mr. 



1 Bird Watching, p. 19 



