CHARADRIIDAZ 97 



ORDER IV. GRALLATORES. 

 Family CHARADRIID.E. 



GREAT PLOVER ((Edicnemus crepitans). The 

 Stone Curlew, Thick-knee, or Norfolk Plover, is a 

 summer visitant to Britain. Formerly it was nume- 

 rous on the downs and hills of Berkshire, and even 

 at the present time it cannot be called a rare bird in 

 either county. 



Specimens have been procured in Langley Park 

 at various times, and young birds have been sold in 

 Eton. I received a notice of one that was killed near 

 Newbury. The species used to be very numerous on 

 the chalk downs in the neighbourhood of Ivinghoe 

 and Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks ; and my friend the 

 Rev. Harpur Crewe sent me a note to the effect that 

 it may still be often heard whistling over head on a 

 still summer's night near the latter place. 



Mr. A. Collins, of the 57th Regiment, in a letter 

 to me dated November 22, 1867, says: 'We also 

 had a Stone Curlew (^. crepitans) for some time in 

 the walled-garden at Betterton, near Wantage. It 

 was chopped by our bailiff's spaniel, when half fledged 



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