STONE-CURLEW. 229 



breeding, and it visits Madeira. Passing eastward, it is 

 found plentifully in Egypt, where Mr. J. H. Gurney, Junr., 

 observed it perching on the roof of an old building at 

 Damietta ; and Yon Heuglin states that it is resident as far 

 south as Assouan, and the coasts of the Ked Sea. In the 

 Somali country our Stone-Curlew is represented by CE.affinis, 

 Riipp., a form which is very closely related to a widely dis- 

 tributed South African species, (E. capensis. The range of 

 the Palaearctic species may be traced through Asia Minor, 

 Turkestan, Persia, and Sind, in all of which it breeds, down 

 to Ceylon, where it is found in sandy districts throughout 

 the year, and so far deviates from its northern habits as to 

 be found in the cinnamon gardens, as mentioned by Mr. 

 Holdsworth. As a rule eggs laid in these southern coun- 

 tries, on arid soils, are characterized by their pale sandy 

 colour, and in a series they are smaller than northern 

 examples. Burmah appears to be its limit in South- 

 eastern Asia. 



Only the present species of Stone -Curlew is known in 

 the Palaearctic region, but there are four other species or 

 representative forms in Africa. In America (E. bistriatus 

 ranges from Southern Mexico to Guiana : a distinct form, 

 (E. superciliaris, occurring in the Peruvian Andes ; and in 

 Australia the genus is represented by (E. grallarius. 



In the adult bird, the beak is black at the point, the base 

 greenish-yellow ; the irides golden-yellow ; the top of the 

 head and back of the neck pale wood-brown, each feather 

 with a streak of black in the centre ; from the base of the 

 upper mandible a light-coloured streak passes backward 

 under the eye to the ear-coverts ; from the base of the lower 

 mandible a brown streak passes below the light-coloured one 

 to the ends of the ear-coverts ; the feathers of the back, 

 wing-coverts, tertials, and upper tail-coverts, pale brown, 

 each feather with a dark brownish-black longitudinal streak 

 in the line of the shaft ; wing-primaries almost black, the 

 first and second with a white patch towards the end ; the 

 tail-feathers with the basal halves mottled with two shades 

 of brown, the third portion white, the ends black ; the out- 



