STONE CURLEW. 353 



that while they live inland, and on the moors, and are in health 

 and season, scarcely any bird excels them in goodness ; but when 

 curlews return to and continue sometime on the sea-shores, they 

 acquire a rank and fishy taste. 



Curlews are found in most parts of Europe ; they abound in 

 all the plains and open marshes, or heath grounds of Russia and 

 Siberia ; also in Kamtschatka, Lapland and Iceland, in general 

 retiring north to breed, and returning to the south as autumn 

 approaches. In Italy and Greece, and perhaps much further 

 south, they are met with, as flocks are seen passing over the 

 island of Malta, spring and autumn.. 



THE STONE CURLEW. 



Of the stone curlew (Charadrius Oedicnemus) Mr. White 

 gives the following account : That it lays its eggs, which are 

 short and round, of a dirty white, spotted with dark bloody 

 botches, usually two, never more than three, on the bare ground, 

 so that tke countryman in ploughing his fallows often destroys 

 them. The young run as soon as they are hatched like par- 

 tridges, and are withdrawn to some flinty field by the dam, where 

 they skulk among our grey spotted flints, which are so exactly 

 of their colour, as to be such a security, that unless he catches 

 the eye of the young bird, the most accurate observer may be 

 deceived, Oedicnemus is a most expressive name for them, 

 since their legs seem swelled like those of a gouty man, yet they 

 run with the swiftness of a greyhound, and sometimes stop sud- 



