THICK-KNEE. GRALLATOBES. CEDICNEMUS. 251 



THE Common Thick-knee, or, as it is frequently called, 

 the Norfolk Plover, is a migratory bird, and one of our re- 

 gular summer visitants. It arrives in England generally Periodical 

 about the end of April or the beginning of May (though 

 earlier instances of its appearance have been occasionally no- 

 ticed), and, after performing the duties attendant upon the 

 reproduction of the species, as autumn advances collects into 

 flocks, and retires soon afterwards, with the addition of the 

 new matured young, to Africa and the warmer latitudes of 

 the European continent, to pass the hiemal months. Its dis- 

 tribution in this country is principally confined to a few of 

 the southern and eastern counties, as its peculiar habits di- 

 rect it to such as afford extensive open tracts ; on which ac- 

 count it is most abundant in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Sussex. 

 It is also found in Hampshire, and sometimes, though of 

 much rarer occurrence, in the wolds of Yorkshire, which 

 seem to be the highest limit of its migration here ; as I ne- 

 ver met with it, nor have I heard of any instances of its cap- 

 ture in the more northern countries, or in any part of Scot- 

 land. According to MONTAGU and other ornithologists, it 

 is equally excluded from the western parts of the island. 

 Wide hilly downs are the situations that suit the economy of 

 this bird, and where it passes the period of its residence with 

 us. It makes no nest, but deposits its eggs on the surface Nest, &c. 

 of the earth, in fallow or other bare ground, especially where 

 flint stones are abundant ; as their similarity in colour to the 

 bird and its eggs furnish great means of safety from its ene- 

 mies. Like the Bustard, its eggs are limited to two, which 

 are of a light yellowish-brown, with blotches and streaks of 

 different shades of brown. The young follow their parents 

 upon immediate exclusion, and are then covered with a par- 

 ti-coloured grey down, which gradually gives place to the 

 proper plumage, till in six weeks or two months they are 

 enabled to fly, and of course to provide for themselves. The 

 large and prominent eye of this bird indicates it as being a 

 late and nocturnal feeder, and we accordingly find its prey 



