ODICNEMUS. 



343 



O. crepitans Common Thick-Knee. This is the 

 only bird of the genus which by any chance makes its 

 appearance in any part of the British islands ; and 

 even there it is found only in the bare, dry, and warm 

 places of the south and east, and is not found even 

 in the midland counties. Norfolk, where there are 

 many dry sandy plains, visited by rare birds more 

 perhaps than any other part of the island, is so ex- 

 clusively the abode of the few of this species which 

 come to Britain, that the bird has been called the 

 Norfolk plover. It is also called the stone plover 

 and the stone curlew, though it cannot with propriety 

 be referred to either of these genera. It is so exclusively 

 a bird of the open plains that it is hardly seen in an 

 inclosure, not apparently being fond of so much cover 

 as that afforded by a single fence. It comes to us 

 generally pretty early in April. Soon after this the 

 cry of the male begins to be heard from the remote 

 and bleak commons. It is rather loud, but harsh 

 and grating, and resembles a sort of explosion. These 

 birds have little time for nest-making, from the severe 

 labour which the finding of food in such unproductive 

 places requires from them. The sand or dry earth 

 is merely a little levelled, and then the eggs are placed 

 upon it. They are greyish in the ground, and mot- 

 tled with red and brown. The time of incubation is 

 described as extending to about a month. It is 

 wholly performed by the female, for the male never 

 sits on the eggs, but he watches very constantly be- 

 side the female during the day, to give warning of 

 any danger that may present itself. In case of any 

 such arriving, the female squats level with the surface 

 of the ground ; and the male shows himself, attempts 

 to attract the enemy to a different quarter, and very 

 generally succeeds in this. When he has succeeded 

 in removing the danger to the necessary distance, he 

 returns to his charge, and always does so by zigzags, 

 of which no single line points directly to the nest. 



The young birds, as is common with those of a 

 species which do not construct formal nests, are 

 thickly covered with down ; and they are capable of 

 using their bills and feet in finding their food, in 

 which, however, they are assisted by the mother. 

 The strong bills of these birds enable them readily 

 to turn over small stones, and seize any little animals 

 which may be below ; and in this way they can find 

 a supply of food in places where the surface does not 

 present a single thing that a bird could eat. Morn- 

 ing and evening are their chief times of feeding, the 

 latter especially, because it is the damper of the two, 

 and the food of the thick-knees keeps longer out. 



When the principal labours of the season are over, 

 and the young able to procure for themselves the 

 requisite supply of food, the birds again assemble in 

 flocks, and they are a little bolder than they are 

 during the breeding season. The hot sun always, 

 however, reduces them to a state of languor, so that 

 they squat down and remain still. But they never 

 do this without having a watch set. If it is a single 

 pair, in the breeding season, the male watches ; but 

 in the case of a flock, when the breeding season is 

 over, there is always a regular sentry posted. As at 

 this time each has nothing to do but find its own 

 food, and provide for its own personal safety, they 

 do not squat when the sentry gives the alarm, as the 

 female does when she has her eggs to protect. They 

 stand up, reconnoitre the danger, and each proceeds 

 on its own way. In consequence of this watchful- 

 ness, these birds are much more rarely procured by 



sportsmen than one would suppose from the readi- 

 ness with which they can be seen on the bare places 

 where they reside. Such, however, is the fact, and 

 these birds are less frequently shot than many others 

 which are in reality more rare. 



They are birds which indicate a bleak and wild 

 state of the country ; and it is doubtful whether pas- 

 turing sheep has not some tendency to thin their 

 numbers, because the sheep gradually bring a grassy 

 sod over the surface, and this either prevents or con- 

 ceals such animals as the birds would feed upon. 

 The falling off of their numbers is therefore to be 

 regarded as conclusive evidence of a country being 

 in a state of improvement, while their increase is, on 

 the other hand, a sign that it is falling into decay. 



This last-mentioned circumstance not unfrequently 

 renders the birds of a country a sort of progressive 

 history of its condition at different times. The forms 

 of wild nature, upon which man, in a climate like 

 ours, breaks in when he cultivates, are the arid waste 

 on the one hand, and the stagnant fen on the other, 

 and the birds which are characteristic of such locali- 

 ties have gradually been becoming scarcer in England 

 for many years past. The bustard, which was once 

 by no means rare in the south, has become nearly 

 extinct ; and it is probable that the thick-knee is 

 following it. 



The thick-knee, though not a very heavy bird, is 

 one of considerable dimensions. It is about seven- 

 teen inches in length, and twenty-five in the stretch 

 of the wings. The bill is about two inches long, and 

 the tarsi are between five and six, which raises the 

 bird above the thin herbage of its haunts, and thus 

 makes it appear much larger than it is in reality. Its 

 neck is of course long to correspond with the length 

 of the legs ; for, in a bird which feeds upon the 

 ground, those two parts are always adapted to each 

 other. The upper parts are reddish-ash colour, with 

 a longitudinal streak of brown down the middle of 

 each feather. The sides of the head, both above and 

 under the eye, are marked with white, which is found 

 also on the chin, but not on the nape. The belly 

 and thighs are also whitish ; and the fore neck and 

 breast are russet, with longitudinal streaks of brown. 

 The coverts of the wings are brown, crossed by a 

 band of white. The quills are black, the first with a 

 white spot on the middle, and the second with a simi- 

 lar one on the inner web. The six middle tail fea- 

 thers are barred with brown ; the others are white 

 with black bars ; and they have all black tips, except 

 the two middle ones. The bill is yellow at the tip, 

 and black at the base. The irides of the eyes and 

 the naked parts of the legs, which extend a consider- 

 able way above the tarsal joints, are also yellow. 



O. magnirostris Large-Billed Thick-Knee. This 

 is an Australian species, having the upper parts mot- 

 tled with ash colour, with red, and with brown, and a 

 white band along the head bordered on each side by 

 a black one. There is also a long black spot on 

 each side of the neck; and the cheeks, chin, and 

 throat are white. The nape and upper part of the 

 neck grey with black spots. The wing coverts pure 

 ash colour, crossed by a white band. Quills black, 

 but with a white spot on the middle. The turn of 

 the wing and the lower parts of the body very pure 

 white, but with a streak of brown down the middle of 

 each feather on the breast. The bill is longer, stouter, 

 and more compressed than that of the European 

 species, and wholly of a black colour. Though not 



