OF SELBORNE. 



151 



I applied on account of tlie stone-curlew^ 



oedicnemus, sends me the following account: 



^* In looking over my Naturalist's Journal 

 for the month of April, I find the stone- 



" curlews are first mentioned on the seven- 

 teenth and eighteenth^ which date seems 



^* to me rather late. They live with us all 

 the Spring and Summer, and at the begin- 

 ning of Autumn prepare to take leave by 

 getting together in flocks. They seem to 

 me a bird of passage that may travel into 

 some dry hilly country South of us, pro- 

 bably Spain, because of the abundance 

 of sheep-walks in that country ; for they 

 spend their Summers with us in such 



" districts. This conjecture I hazard, as 

 I have never met with any one that has 

 seen them in England m the Winter. I 



*^ believe they are not fond of going near 

 the water, but feed on earth-worms, that 



^* are common on sheep-walks and downs. 



** They breed on fallows and lay-fields 

 abounding with grey mossy flints, which 

 much resemble their young in colour ; 



*^ among which they skulk and conceal 



