14 cassell's book of birds. 



great numbers, and, according to Jules Verreaux, is often to be found in the track of the hosts of 

 these creatures that are met with in Southern Africa. The nest consists of a slight hollow in the 

 ground, lined with fibres and blades of grass ; the -eggs, four in number, have a yellowish brown 

 or greenish grey shell, spotted with grey, and variously marked with light brown and deep black. 

 So great is the attachment of these Pratincoles for their mates and young that we are told, should 

 one of a pair be shot, the other at once runs to its companion's side in utter disregard of its own 

 safety. If the little family are intruded on, the parents frequently feign to be wounded, or by other 

 devices entice the enemy from the nest. The helpless young, if alarmed, crouch to the ground, and 

 are with difficulty detected, owing to the earthy colour of their downy feathers ; they grow very 

 rapidly, and soon attain the plumage of the adult birds. 



The THICK-KNEES (GEdicnemi) constitute a sub-family whose members are at once 

 recognisable by their comparatively large size, moderately long thin neck, thick head, large eyes, and 

 a straight beak of about the same length as the head, with the culmen slightly depressed and swollen 

 •at the tip. The knees are very thick, the toes three in number, and the wings, in which the second 

 quill is the longest, of moderate size ; the secondary quills are of unusual length. The tail is wedge- 

 shaped, and composed of from twelve to fourteen feathers'. These birds are migratory, and are met 

 with in all parts of the world, with the exception of North America ; open moorlands are the localities 

 they prefer, as affording them the largest supply of the -small quadrupeds, reptiles, worms, and insects 

 upon which they subsist, and which they seek during the evening or at night. In the day-time 

 the Thick-knees remain closely squatted beneath -a stone or any similar shelter, and if disturbed 

 fly to a short distance, before running off rapidly to some place of concealment. The female deposits 

 • her two eggs on the bare ground ; the young are able to follow their parents as soon as they 

 quit the shell. 



THE COMMON THICK-KNEE, OR STONE CURLEW. 



The Common Thick-knee, or Stone Curlew ( CEdicnemns crepitans), is from sixteen to seventeen 

 inches long and from twenty-nine to thirty broad ; the wing measures eight inches and half, and the 

 tail about five inches. The feathers upon the upper parts of the body are reddish grey, striped in the 

 centre with blackish brown ; the brow, a patch over the eyes and a line above and below the cere are 

 white, the underside and a stripe on the upper wing are yellowish white, the quills black, and the tail- 

 feathers bordered with black and white at their sides. The eye is golden yellow, the beak yellow with 

 black tip, the foot straw-colour, and the eyelids yellow. The plumage of the young is principally of a 

 rust-red. These birds are natives of the desert and barren districts of Northern Africa, Western 

 Asia, and Southern Europe, being especially numerous in Syria, Persia, Arabia, and India. Such as 

 occupy the most northern portions of their habitat go south late in the autumn and return to their 

 former haunts early in spring, whilst such as dwell in the countries watered by the Mediterranean 

 remain throughout the entire year in the same localities. In Egypt, notwithstanding their usual 

 preference for barren tracts, the Stone Curlews not only venture into towns and perch upon houses, 

 but occasionally make their nests on the roofs, always provided that the situation be such as to permit 

 them to have a clear space about them, and an elevated perch from whence they can reconnoitre in 

 order to elude the approach of danger. A nearly-allied species, residing in South Africa, frequents 

 the outskirts of forests, selecting spots thickly covered with brushwood, in which it conceals itself if 

 alarmed. The Common Thick-knee or Norfolk Plover, as it is called in England, is only a summer 

 visitor to our country, appearing in April and departing in September or October. It is most 

 numerous in the south and south-west parts of our island, and does not go north of Yorkshire. 

 Ireland it rarely visits. According to Mr. Salmon, of Thetford, " it is numerously distributed all over 



