442 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



regularity of well-trained setters ; and again in May, in the early 

 mornings, searching the commons and hedgerows for Partridges' 

 nests. When once a nest is found, woe to the owner thereof, for 

 the robber does his work thoroughly, and leaves behind him but 

 a few egg-shells. The eggs are generally carried away to a 

 distance, but I have seen Peewits' eggs sucked in situ, while the 

 wretched parents were screaming overhead. 



No mercy is shown to the Grey Crow, Corvus comix , in the 

 North : no one has a good word to say for him ; he is justly 

 recognised as an evil doer, and strict are the laws meted out to 

 him. Yet his black cousin of the South is beloved of poets, 

 praised by naturalists, who appear to think he spends his life in 

 honest toil, assisting the farmer, and saving his crops from insect 

 ravages, and even keepers may be found who will put in a good word 

 for him. But a day will come, unless he mends his ways, when 

 the Rook will be known for what he is — when his fate will be 

 even as the Hoodie's, and every man's hand will be against him. 



To return, however, to the Stone Curlew or Thick-knee. 

 It is the destruction of their eggs, no doubt, more than anything 

 else, that has led to their diminution, and will lead to their 

 extermination ; and the fact that much waste ground, eminently 

 suited to their needs, has been reclaimed in the last quarter of a 

 century, and placed under cultivation.* 



The bird arrives here early in May, and leaves late in 

 September, f Like most of the later migrants, I think, it nests 

 within a short time of its arrival. The nest is a mere hollow 

 scraped in the bare peaty or sandy earth, in which the two eggs 

 are deposited. The eggs are beautifully protective in colour, and 

 extremely difficult for an inexperienced person to find, though 

 they lie, large and boldly-marked, on the bare earth. The earth 



* In the South of England, particularly in the counties of Kent, Sussex, 

 and Wilts, the diminution in numbers of the Stone Curlew may be attributed 

 to another cause — namely, the modern practice of rolling the young wheat 

 in spring. In the counties referred to, the eggs of this bird at one time 

 might have been found every spring upon the fallows ; but now the heavy 

 horse-roller passes over them ; for the farm-labourer, even if observant 

 enough to notice them, is generally too lazy or too indifferent to stop his 

 horses and remove the eggs on one side out of harm's way. — Ed. 



f In 1891 the first pair seen appeared on May 10th ; the last were seen 

 on September 23rd. 



