(EDICNEMUS SCOLOPAX. 971 



Jerdon remarks that this Stone-Plover is found in most parts of India down to the extreme south, and 

 says that it is more rare in Malabar and Lower Bengal than in other districts. Mr. W. Morgan writes, in 

 ' The Ibis/ 1875, that he found it breeding near Kurnool in May. In the Deccan it is not uncommon, 

 according to Messrs. Davidson and Wenden ; and the Rev. Dr. Fairbank records it from the Khandala district. 

 In Chota Nagpur it is rare, but met with sometimes in jungle, the districts in which Mr. Ball observed 

 it being enumerated as the Rajniekal hills, Manbhum, Lohardugga, Singhbhum, Sirguja, Sambalpur, Orissa, 

 and the Godaveri valley ; and from Raipur Mr. Hume has received it. About Calcutta it is rare, and from 

 Purreedpore it is not recorded at all. Towards Burmah it is scarce. Captain Feilden procured a single 

 specimen near Thayetmyo. Mr. Blanford met with a considerable flock on the Irrawaddy in September ; and 

 on the delta of the same river Dr. Armstrong observed it rarely. In Tenasserim it is confined to. the plains 

 country of the central portions of the province, and is rare there. It is found in pairs or solitary, and was 

 met with by Mr. Davison on Thatone plains and on the banks of the Attaran near Moulmein. This district 

 appears to be the limit of its range in South-east Asia; and it has not been observed in China, or anywhere to 

 the eastward of Burmah. In Upper India it is, I imagine, not uncommon, and extends in equal numbers 

 through suitable places in Rajpootana to Sindh. In the Sambhur-Lake district Mr. Adam met with it in the 

 hills near Nawa at Malm Pahar. It is not uncommon in Sindh, and also in Kattiawar, Guzerat, and Jodhpoor, 

 wherever there is low scrub-jungle on sandy plains. Severtzoff remarks that it breeds in Turkestan in the 

 south-east and throughout the north up to an altitude of 4000 feet ; but in the more elevated region of 

 Kashghar Dr. Scully did not meet with it. I have seen it from the Attrek river, on the eastern shores of the 

 Caspian, and it is doubtless distributed throughout this region, much of which is suited to its habits. In 

 Palestine, Canon Tristram met with it on the plains near Jericho and on the sand-dunes near Beersheba. 

 In Asia Minor it is not uncommon in barren country. Mr. Danford obtained it in woods at Anascha, and 

 got its eggs at Boghaslii Khan in May. In Turkey it is considered by Messrs. Elwes and Buckley to be a 

 summer visitor, as the climate is too cold for it in winter. It is abundant in Southern Russia, breeding in 

 numbers near Odessa, and is not uncommon in Greece ; whilst in the islands of Sicily, Malta, and Sardinia 

 it is more or less resident. In parts of Italy it is likewise resident, as also in Spain, in the south of which 

 country it is common, and affects barren plains and dry watercourses. Near Gibraltar it is, writes Col. Irby, 

 resident in considerable numbers ; Lord Lilford has seen it at Madrid, and Mr. Saunders at Malaga. It is 

 very rare in Transylvania, having occurred at Alvincz, on the Maros river, and in the Hatzeg valley. As 

 regards Central Europe, it is not uncommon in some parts of Germany and rare in others, and is said not to 

 have been noticed in Upper Silesia, though it breeds in other parts of the province. Its northerly limit is 

 Denmark, as it has not been recorded from Scandinavia or Northern Russia. It is a summer visitant to 

 England ; and has been known to breed, according to Mr. Moore, in the counties of Dorset, Hants, Sussex, 

 Kent, Herts, Oxford, Bucks, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, Worcester, Lincoln, Piutlaud, Nottingham, and 

 Yorkshire; but it is rapidly decreasing in these localities. In France, writes Mr. Dresser, it is more abundant 

 in the south than in the north, being principally found on passage in the latter. In Holland and Belgium it 

 is likewise a bird of passage. Passing over Spain to the continent of Africa we find Col. Irby recording it as 

 common in Morocco near the Straits. Mr. Gurney met with it at Laghouat in Algeria, and it has been 

 observed on the borders of the Sahara desert. Throughout Egypt and Nubia, writes Captain Shelley, it is 

 found in pairs and families where there are desert places in the neighbourhood of small bushes. In the same 

 regions Von Heuglin met with it, and also in Kordofan and Abyssinia, from which latter country Mr. Blanford 

 records it too ; in the Somauli country Von Heuglin believes he saw it. How far south it is resident he 

 cannot say; but he found it sedentary in the Assouan district, and along the shores of the Red Sea he observed 

 it now and then. In the Somauli country its place is taken by (E. affinis, Riipp., a near ally of the Cape 

 species, (E. capensis, Licht. The present bird is doubtfully recorded by Von Heuglin from "West Africa ; 

 but in all the Canary Islands it is found, and near Port Orotava, in Tenerifie, Godman met with it in abun- 

 dance. It is said by Mr. Vernon Harcourt to be a straggler to Madeira. 



Habits. — This well-known bird confines itself, in Ceylon, to sandy places which are dotted pretty thickly 

 with shrubs, or to dry marsh-land where there are chimps of bushes either scattered here and there, or lining 

 the borders of creeks intersecting it. In such a locality near the so-called Salt Lake at Trincomalie two or 



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