14 IVade : Status of the Stone Curtew in Yorkshire. 



number seen together of which I can obtam any record in 

 present times is eight, on 4th April, 1907, in a locahty which 

 shall be nameless, an earlier date than I can find any mention 

 of either in Stevenson's ' Birds of Norfolk ' or the ' Birds of 

 Yorkshire.' Probably when flocking for the autumn migration, 

 more might be observed if an}^ record could be obtained. 

 The birds soon separate, and each pair scatters to its own 

 breeding ground, which is generally pretty near the same 

 locality each year. The persistence of the Stone Curlew in 

 returning to its old haunts was well illustrated on Brumby 

 Warren in Lincolnshire, a favourite breeding place before the 

 extension of the blast furnaces. Here, although footpaths 

 were made through its favourite haunts, and its eggs were 

 persistently robbed, it continued to struggle on for some years, 

 in full sight of the glare of the furnaces, whilst the town ex- 

 tended over the warren till the bird finally became extinct. 

 No doubt, to this persistence alone, w^e owe the fact of the birds 

 still breeding in our county. We will suppose that it has 

 selected the fallows as its nesting-place. If the eggs are hatched 

 before the ground is broken up for turnips, well and good, for 

 it is a position where their colour makes them all but visible. 

 Next year the same field is sown with barley, and the bird lays 

 there again. If the eggs escape the roller, they will be destroyed 

 by the hoe or the sprinkler, and until the next year, when the 

 field rests quiet in seeds, they have no chance of hatching safely, 

 i.e., for two out of four years rotation they are certain to be 

 destroyed. Londesboro' may be taken as a typical instance of 

 the bird's chance of reproducing its species on cultivatep 

 ground. In forty years it has tried three times to establish 

 itself there, on each occasion the eggs have been taken, the last 

 date being May 1906, when the birds were destroyed or driven 

 away, and have not returned. This part of the Wolds is too 

 much cultivated, and the fields too small for safety. For- 

 tunately the Stone Curlew has shewn some adaptability to 

 circumstances. Thrice I have seen the nest in plantations, 

 w^hether because the bird had kept to the old breeding-ground 

 after it was planted, or had gone there for safety, I cannot say, 

 but in the photo shewn in ' Birds of Yorkshire,' the nest was 

 in a spinney thickl}^ planted, among young trees ten feet high. 

 In such a place of course, opportunities for escape before the 

 searcher can observe the bird are obvious. No doubt the habit 

 is exceptional, as only two other instances are mentioned. 



Naturalist, 



