where it can see all round, evidently not caring whether it can be seen or 

 not. The sitting bird, as a rule, runs about fifteen or twenty yards from the 

 nest and then takes wing; but occasionally she will trust to her protective 

 colouring and flatten herself out motionless on her nest. I have walked 

 past a bird in this position within ten yards and she never moved, though 

 she must have seen my eye fixed on her. The actions of the Stone-Curlew 

 at the nest very much resemble those of the true Bustards and not the 

 Plovers. 



About the end of the first week in May the Stone-Curlew selects a 

 spot on which to deposit her two eggs. Nest there is none, the eggs being 



\ 



deposited in a slight hollow scratched in the ground. The site chosen is, as 

 a rule, in some very bare place, where the heath is very short, or on one of 

 the little patches of bare soil studded with pebbles or flints. In warrens I 

 have often seen the eggs laid on the patch of sandy soil scraped out from 

 some hole by the rabbits, or on some disused sheep track. In Suffolk I was 

 shown a nest in a turnip-field, between two drills, in a part of the field where 

 most of the roots had been killed by the drought ; and I found a nest in a 

 young plantation on a patch of bare ground in one of the rides cut for 

 shooting purposes. 



The eggs vary in ground-colour from creamy white to rich buff, spotted, 

 blotched, or streaked with several shades of brown and underlying markings 

 of grey or lilac. On some specimens the markings take the form of curious 

 streaks and scrawlings, on others they are chiefly confined to the larger end 

 of the eggs, and are large, irregular blotches, while a third variety is very finely 

 dusted all over with minute specks. One or two nests I have examined 

 contained a richly marked egg and one almost entirely devoid of markings, 

 save one or two large and irregular underlying spots of a beautiful lilac 

 grey. The intensity of the brown surface-spots varies considerably, some 

 specimens having a few splashes of rich velvety black on the larger end. 

 One beautiful specimen which I took has a ring of very fine spots round 

 the larger end of the egg, which is suffused with a delicate pink tinge 

 shading into violet on the extreme end of the egg. The eggs vary in length 

 from 2'2O to 2'o inches, and in breadth from r6 to 1*49 inch. 



Only one brood is reared in the year, but if the first eggs be taken, a 

 second nest will be made within a short distance of the original site. Young 

 in down are beautiful little creatures, and can run with great speed soon after 

 they are hatched, but usually squat down on the ground on the approach of 

 danger and trust to their protective colouring for safety. 



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