50 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT 
LETTER XVI. 
TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 
The history of the stone-curlew, Cliaraclrius oedicnemus, is as 
follows. It lays its eggs, usually two, never more than three, 
on the hare ground, without any nest, in the field ; so that the 
countryman, in stirring his fallows, often destroys them. The 
young run immediately from the egg like partridges, &c., and are 
THE NUTHATCH. 
withdrawn to some flinty field by the dam, where they skulk 
among the stones, which are their best security ; for their feathers 
are so exactly of the colour of our gray-spotted flints, that the 
most exact observer, unless he catches the eye of the young bird. 
