94 GRALL^E. 



the bird, when standing up in the bare fields, which it fre- 

 quents, appears larger than it is in reality. The naked parts. 

 of the legs, which extend to some distance above the articu- 

 lations of the tarsi, (usually, though improperly, called the 

 Tcnee joints,) are yellow : and the orbits and irides of the 

 eyes, and also the basal part of the bill, are yellow, the last 

 of a paler shade than the others ; the arched part of the bill 

 towards the tip, and the claws, are black. 



The colours of the plumage, though sober, are pleasingly 

 marked. The head, neck, and all the upper parts of the 

 body, are dull orange-brown, with a well-defined dusky streak 

 down the middle of each feather ; the neck and breast are of 

 a paler shade of the same ground colour, mottled in a similar 

 manner ; and the belly, thighs, and vent, are pale yellowish 

 white. One streak of dull white above, and another under 

 the eye, nearly form an oval boundary about that organ ; and 

 the chin and upper part of the neck in front are dull white, 

 with a line of the same on each side extending towards the 

 nape, but not meeting behind, so as to form a collar. The 

 quills of the wings, excepting a white bar across the first and 

 second, to the tips of the tail-feathers, and a bar across the 

 middle of each tail-feather, are black, and the remainder of 

 the tail-feathers, which are short, and form a blunted wedge, 

 are white. The tarsal joints, or knees, are remarkably thick, 

 as if they were enlarged by gouty concretions, from which 

 circumstance the bird gets its name. 



The thick-knee is found, as a British bird, only in the dry 

 and open places of the south and east of England, and not 

 even in the midland counties. These birds are, upon the 

 whole, migratory, though in mild winters a few of them 

 remain all the year. They keep the open fields, avoiding 

 copses and covers of all kinds, and rarely even feeding in 

 enclosures, except these are very large. They arrive in Eng- 

 land in the early part of April, but a little sooner or later, 



