244 THE STONE-CURLEW 



humped and the neck contracted, which brings the head close to the 

 shoulders, an attitude very like the ordinary hiding crouch of many 

 ground-nesting birds. (Plate XLVIII., Fig. 2.) But the later phase of 

 the attitude is rapidly developed, the neck is extended, and the little 

 bird, from the tip of its bill to the end of its body, is pressed flat 

 on the ground. (Plate XLVIII., Fig. 3.) 



Not only does the stone-curlew eclipse its congeners in its 

 development of this device, but also in its faith therein. The young 

 birds seem to trust implicitly to its value to protect them, and it is 

 no easy matter to prove to them that they are discovered. I have 

 lifted one from the ground and laid it across two outstretched fingers, 

 yet the rigidity of the attitude has not been relaxed nor has the bird 

 shown a sign of life. By dint of much handling the little bird may at 

 last be made to realise that it is discovered, that the deception has 

 failed ; then it takes refuge in the most commonplace of expedients 

 and runs away ! The length of leg now revealed is quite surprising, 

 as is also the pace at which this hitherto inert creature can run. It 

 will not as a rule run far, probably twenty to fifty yards, then it drops 

 flat again in the crouching attitude, and with the attitude its faith in 

 its protective value returns, and, providing one is able to find it, there 

 will be the same difficulty as before in convincing it that its natural 

 defence has broken down. 



When fully fledged the young show but slightly diminished con- 

 fidence in the device ; and although I have never witnessed it myself, 

 I have been told by gamekeepers that when a man approaches on 

 horseback, the adults are less likely to flee than from one on foot, 

 but will assume the crouching attitude while the horse passes within 

 a few feet. This specialisation of the stone-curlew in the crouching 

 habit has no doubt arisen from long and continued adherence to a 

 special environment. While the species keeps to districts where the 

 favourable conditions prevail, the habit is of undoubted value ; but on 

 ground of a different nature, with which the colour of the down would 

 not harmonise so well, one can imagine this extreme dependence on 



