THE THICK-KNEES. 129 



species extends to Central Asia and the Altai district, win- 

 tering in India and the Burmese provinces. The Indian birds 

 have been separated as a distinct race, as the generality of 

 specimens are smaller, while the third primary has a white spot. 

 This is a character which is found in some European speci- 

 mens, and no line of difference can be drawn between European 

 and Asiatic examples. f 



Habits. Open spaces, heaths, and wolds are the natural 

 habitat of the Thick-knee, which is a particularly shy and timid 

 bird. The bare parts of the eastern counties and our southern 

 downs, the wilds of Salisbury Plain, and the wide extent of 

 shingly beach on the coast of Kent all these are favourite 

 resorts of the species in England, and it is in these localities it 

 breeds. Sometimes a single pair will be found inhabiting a 

 wide extent of the Hampshire Downs, while on Salisbury Plain 

 several pairs will be encountered in the space of a single day. 

 I have kept several of these birds in confinement, and allowed 

 them the run of a garden, but they are always timid, and 

 never become very tame. When pursued, they have the 

 curious habit of running along for some distance with their 

 necks outstretched, and then lying down with extended neck, 

 evidently trusting to the similarity of their plumage to their 

 barren surroundings for concealment. They will lie thus and 

 allow themselves to be taken by the hand. The note is 

 musical when the bird is flying in the air, calling to his mate, 

 but changes to a note of terror when a Peregrine comes in 

 sight, and I have seen several captured by trained Hawks. 

 Thick-knees are, as a rule, more active in the evening, and 

 are rather silent birds during the day. They will eat almost 

 anything, from a field-mouse or a frog to a worm or an 

 insect, though beetles constitute a large proportion of their 

 food. I have known a young one to be brought up largely on 

 meat, and slices off the breast of a freshly-killed Sparrow were 

 swallowed with avidity. 



Nest. None, the eggs being deposited on the bare earth in 

 a shallow depression. They so closely resemble their sur- 

 roundings that they can easily be mistaken for the stones, 

 of which there are generally plenty on the fallow ground 

 selected by the bird for the deposition of its eggs. They are 



II K 



