LAPWING’S NES’ 
unawares. ‘Their eggs 
are the “plovers’ 
egos” of poulterers’ 
shops, and ave famihar 
to all; but few seeing 
them as they are 
displayed for sale, 
often in hundreds, 
would realise how 
dificult they are to 
discover in their 
natural situations. In 
a locality so congenial 
to their watchful 
habits as the Breck, the 
presence of these birds 
in considerable numbers is a foregone conclusion. 
But of all the birds which inhabit the Breck 
none are so characteristic, so interesting and 
fascinating to the naturalist, and none fit in 
so well with the nature of the country, as 
the hicknee or Stone-Curlew. It is the 
largest of all the plover family in Britain, and 
is often called the Great Plover and Norfolk 
Plover, the latter name originating in the 
district of which we are writing. Of the other 
two names mentioned above, ‘“‘ Thicknee”’ is 
derived from the thickening of the leg in 
immature birds, a peculiarity which, although 
unusually pronounced in this species, 1s common 
not only to all the plovers but the whole group 
of birds known as “ waders,” from the herons 
EGGS OF THE STONE-CURLEW. 
Animal Life 
down to the smallest sandpipers. As regards 
fitness, there is but little to choose between 
the several trivial names of this bird; even 
advanced ornithologists hardly show a prefer- 
ence for any particular one. Although in the 
writer's opinion “ Stone-Curlew” is not the 
most appropriate, yet as it is the name 
generally used in Norfolk and Suffolk, it will 
be adopted in this article when the bird is 
subsequently alluded to. The use of the 
name is, however, apt to be productive of 
some confusion unless the explanation 1s made 
that no near relationship exists between this 
bird and the real curlew ; some approximation 
‘there is in build and general colouring of the 
two birds, but contrasted with the short 
plover-like bill of the 
stone-curlew, the 
characteristic long 
curved one of the 
curlew is so distinctive 
a feature as to make 
it unlikely that the 
name arose from 
appearance alone. It 
is more likely that it 
originated in one of 
the few breeding 
places of Cidicnemas 
near the shore, or 
some moorland where 
curlews were well 
STONE-CURLEW’S NEST. 
