Great Plover. 



seen it on the downs near Wardour, while Mr. Grant's list 

 mentions specimens from Netheravon, Manningford, Everley, 

 Lavington, Erlestoke, Tilshead and Chitterne. Thus it is clearly 

 established that the Great Plover is no stranger to Wiltshire r 

 albeit of not very frequent occurrence in the present day : and 

 I have entered fully into the evidences of its appearance on our 

 downs, because it has been doubted by some whether the species- 

 has not been mistaken. That such, however, is not the case, I 

 am perfectly convinced, and indeed there is no other bird with 

 which it can be readily confused. It is of fine stately form, of 

 considerable size and of erect carriage, and its large prominent 

 yellow eye is the principal feature which attracts attention. It 

 is a nocturnal feeder, as the size and prominence of its eye 

 indicates, and rests by day on the wide hilly downs, which are 

 its chosen haunts ; but it is of a wild and shy disposition, and if 

 disturbed in its retreat, flies off with its legs stretched out behind 

 after the manner of the heron ; and after a short flight alights 

 again, and then runs off with great rapidity. It is a migratory 

 bird, arriving here in the spring, and retiring in autumn to pass 

 the winter in Africa. Like the Bustards, it lays but two eggs, 

 and in its insect and animal diet, as well as general habits, it 

 follows the custom of its congeners. 



Its generic name (Edicnemus, from ofoog, ' a swelling,' and 

 XI^AMJ, ' the leg,' is very descriptive of the remarkable swelling of 

 the tarsal joint of the leg in the young bird, which reminds one 

 of a gouty man, and which is a very characteristic feature in this 

 species. I was informed by Mr. Parsons, of Hunts Mill, Wootton 

 Bassett, when looking over my collection of birds in 1870, that 

 there is an old saying in Wiltshire, having reference to the value 

 of the Stone Curlew in olden time : 



' Let the curlew be white or black, 

 He carries ninepence on his back.' 



A somewhat high price when the value of money, if only a 

 hundred years ago, is taken into account ; but there is no 

 question that it is of excellent quality for the table. In France 

 it is (Edicneme criard, ' Clamorous (or noisy) Thick-knee ;' in 



