TuicK-KNEE. GRALLATORES. CEDICNEMUS. 251 
Tur Common Thick-knee, or, as it is frequently called, 
the Norfolk Plover, is a migratory bird, and one of our re- 
gular summer visitants. It arrives in England generally Periodical 
about the end of April or the beginning of May (though 
earlier instances of its appearance have been occasionally no- 
ticed), and, after performing the duties attendant upon the 
reproduction of the species, as autumn advances collects into 
flocks, and retires soon afterwards, with the addition of the 
new matured young, to Africa and the warmer latitudes of 
the European continent, to pass the hiemal months. Its dis- 
tribution in this country is principally confined to a few of 
the southern and eastern counties, as its peculiar habits di- 
rect it to such as afford extensive open tracts; on which ac- 
count it is most abundant in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Sussex. 
It is also found in Hampshire, and sometimes, though of 
much rarer occurrence, in the wolds of Yorkshire, which 
seem to be the highest limit of its migration here; as I ne- 
ver met with it, nor have I heard of any instances of its cap- 
ture in the more northern countries, or in any part of Scot- 
land. According to Monracvu and other ornithologists, it 
is equally excluded from the western parts of the island. 
Wide hilly downs are the situations that suit the economy of 
this bird, and where it passes the period of its residence with 
us. It makes no nest, but deposits its eggs on the surface 
of the earth, in fallow or other bare ground, especially where 
flint stones are abundant ; as their similarity in colour to the 
bird and its eggs furnish great means of safety from its ene- 
mies. Like the Bustard, its eggs are limited to two, which 
are of a light yellowish-brown, with blotches and streaks of 
. different shades of brown. The young follow their parents 
upon immediate exclusion, and are then covered with a par- 
ti-coloured grey down, which gradually gives place to the 
proper plumage, till in six weeks or two months they are 
enabled to fly, and of course to provide for themselves. The 
large and prominent eye of this bird indicates it as being a 
late and nocturnal feeder, and we accordingly find its prey 
visitant. 
Nest, &c. 
