262 CHARADRIID.E. 



spring, leave a surface of- sun-baked mud on which they deposit 

 their complement of three eggs only, about the second week in 

 May. The earliest egg I saw was taken on the 3rd of that 

 month, and they mostly arrive about the 20th of April, the 

 earliest date on which I saw one being the 4th and 10th of that 

 month in two consecutive years. Verner noticed six at Palmones, 

 near Gibraltar, on the 21st of April, 1878. They fly very high 

 when on passage, and attract notice chiefly from their cry. The 

 latest date of the return migration observed was the 14th of 

 October, when a young bird was procured. 



In some seasons they breed about the edges of the Laguna de 

 la Janda, but the marisma of the Guadalquivir is their chief 

 resort. 



A friend of mine, who shot several on the autumnal passage, 

 informed me that they were excellent eating ; but in this respect 

 I can give no personal information. 



Axillaries cJtestnut-red ; tail much forked. 



Above dull brown ; rump and tail-coverts white ; throat buff, bordered 

 by a black line meeting at the gape, forming a bridle or collar ; wings very- 

 long, about 7^ inches. Length 9-10 inches. 



CHARADRIIDJE. Hind toe absent in most species. 



284. CEdicnenms scolopax (S. G. Gmelin). The Stone-Curlew. 



Moorish. El Karuana. Spanish. Alcaravan. 



The Stone-Curlew is found on both sides of the Straits as a 

 resident in considerable numbers, nesting generally about the 

 beginning of May, and depositing its complement of two eggs 

 usually on stony dry ground. 



These birds are far more common in the winter months, and 

 most so during their migration, which is northwards during 

 March and April, and southwards in October, November, and 

 December. They pass in lots of from five or six to fifty in 

 number, and are chiefly observed on ploughed fields, generally 



