GEEAT PLOVER. 19 



Rev. Gilbert White, too, records that in 1788, he heard one 

 on the 27th. of February. One was shot near Thetford, in 

 Norfolk, the 9th. of December, 1834, by Mr. J. D. Salmon ; 

 and another at Ludham, on the 15th. of December, 1846. 



In general they are seen singly, or at the most in pairs, 

 in spring. They migrate in the autumn in the small numbers 

 of the respective families. They repair to water every evening 

 to drink and to wash themselves. They are easily tamed, and 

 kept in gardens, and seem to become attached to their keepers, 

 and are said to live to a great age: naturally they are very 

 wild and shy. 



William He wet, Esq., of Reading, has sent me several 

 particulars of these birds. The young, even when fledged, will 

 squat, and allow themselves to be picked up. If disturbed 

 from the nest, the parent runs off very swiftly with the head 

 stooped. The young ones are very good eating, but the old 

 birds are dry and tough. 



They fly swiftly on occasion, and with much power, but 

 low, though often at a considerable height during the night; 

 they also run extremely fast. The legs are held out behind 

 in flight. In the day-time they generally lie at rest near 

 some stone, clod, or other sheltering projection, or stand on 

 one leg with the head buried in the feathers. 



They feed on beetles arid other insects, worms and slugs, 

 and swallow pieces of stone to aid digestion. 



Their cry may be heard sometimes through a summer's night 

 from the fallow fields, and there is something peculiarly striking 

 in their wild wail; so at least I used to deem it: 'Sweet was 

 the music to my ear' in the 'joyous days of old.' Buffon 

 renders it by the word 'turrlui,' and Meyer by 'dit,' 'dillit,' 

 and 'krseeet,' which latter it utters chiefly during the evening 

 and night when on the wing, and but rarely in the day. It 

 is also rendered by the syllables 'cur-lew,' whence one of its 

 vernacular names; the other I suppose, being derived from its 

 frequenting stony places. 



The bare earth is the nest, among weather-worn stones. The 

 male appears to sit as well as the female, the time of incubation 

 being sixteen or seventeen days. The young are led about by 

 the female almost as soon as hatched, that is to say, on the 

 day following their birth; at first the old birds take great 

 care of them. 



The eggs are pale brown, blotted, spotted, and streaked with 

 greyish blue and dark brown, assimilating closely in appearance 



