AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 3 



warrens, sheep-walks, heaths, and fallow fields. 

 Yarrell, or the editor of the fourth edition of his 

 British Birds, says very truly that the distribution of 

 the bird coincides locally with that of the cretaceous 

 formation in this country, the chalk downs being 

 especially suited to its habits. The few eggs of this 

 species that I have found in situ were laid on the 

 bare fallow, without any sort of nest, or even a 

 scratching of the earth ; they are two in number, of 

 a light drab or earth-colour, with streaks and blotches 

 of dark brown or grey, and, from their resemblance 

 to the usual surrounding, very difficult to discover. 



The Stone-Curlew is, as a rule, very wary, but 

 often attempts to avoid observation, especially when 

 approached by a mounted person, by squatting or 

 remaining erect and motionless. I should often have 

 passed one without noticing it from horseback or a 

 carriage, had it not been for the glint of the sun upon 

 the brilliant yellow of the irides. From the stomachs 

 of the few birds of this species that I have examined, 

 I am inclined to think that their principal food 

 consists of snails, beetles, grubs, and worms, but they 

 will also devour frogs and young mice, and I know 

 that many gamekeepers in Norfolk accuse them of 

 destroying the young of feathered game. We have 

 generally found these birds, singly or in couples, 

 during the spring and summer; but before leaving 

 their breeding-districts they unite in flocks, and I 

 have more than once seen as many as fifty or sixty on 

 wing together in the first fortnight of October in 

 West Norfolk. At that time of year they often 

 frequent young plantations of fir and larch, and are 

 easily driven over the guns ; but their flesh is worth- 

 less, and I consider it more than a shame to destroy 



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