370 BUSTARD. 



the shaft ; the under parts much the same, but somewhat paler, 

 except the chin, belly, thighs, and vent, which are pale yellowish 

 white ; above and beneath the eyes is a pale band ; and below the eye 

 a bare yellowish green space ;# on the coverts, parallel to the edge of 

 the wing, a pale band ; quills black ; tail rounded, composed of 

 twelve feathers ;f the six middle ones banded with brown, the three 

 outer on each side white, barred with dusky ; all but the two middle 

 marked more or less at the ends with black ; legs yellow, or greenish 

 white ; knees thick, as if swelled, the outer toe united to the middle 

 one, as far as the first joint ; claws black. 



The female does not differ from the male in outward appearance. 

 This bird is found in Europe, but not farther north than this king- 

 dom, nor even here in the colder parts; chiefly in the western 

 counties, but not there observed beyond Dorsetshire ; not uncommon 

 in some parts of Kent, frequenting the rising slopes, and hills on 

 each side of the whole vale between Dart ford and Farningham, and 

 beyond the latter, especially those parts which are stony and dry ;j 

 is well known also in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk, and 

 from this latter has gained the name of Norfolk Plover ;§ It lays 

 two or three cinereous white eggs, weighing about one ounce and a 

 half; two inches and a quarter long, and marked with blotches and 

 scratches of blackish olive brown ; in some specimens mixed with 

 obscure dusky ones ; the eggs are placed on the ground, or in a small 

 hollow of the earth, in general sheltered by a stone or two, and the 

 hen sits thirty days. It seems to hatch late, as the young have been 

 brought to me, unable to fly, the middle of October ; and they will 

 follow, like Chickens, as soon as hatched ; for some time they are 

 grey, and downy like a young Owl. The food is chiefly insects, and 



* I have not found this bare part in the birds which have come under my inspection ; 

 perhaps it appears only in very old subjects. 



f Hasselquist says 13, but he must have miscounted, or else his specimen had 14; for 

 in no instance have we observed an odd number. 



J Salerne observes, that poor land is not unfrequently called Curlew-land, 



§ It is called also, in some parts, the Stone Curlew. 



