The THICK-KNEES (_Œdicnemi_) constitute a sub-family whose members are at once recognisable by their comparatively large size, moderately long thin neck, thick head, large eyes, and a straight beak of about the same length as the head, with the culmen slightly depressed and swollen at the tip. The knees are very thick, the toes three in number, and the wings, in which the second quill is the longest, of moderate size; the secondary quills are of unusual length. The tail is wedge-shaped, and composed of from twelve to fourteen feathers. These birds are migratory, and are met with in all parts of the world, with the exception of North America; open moorlands are the localities they prefer, as affording them the largest supply of the small quadrupeds, reptiles, worms, and insects upon which they subsist, and which they seek during the evening or at night. In the daytime the Thick-knees remain closely squatted beneath a stone or any similar shelter, and if disturbed fly to a short distance, before running off rapidly to some place of concealment. The female deposits her two eggs on the bare ground; the young are able to follow their parents as soon as they quit the shell. THE COMMON THICK-KNEE, OR STONE CURLEW. The COMMON THICK-KNEE, or STONE CURLEW (_Œdicnemus crepitans_), is from sixteen to seventeen inches long and from twenty-nine to thirty broad; the wing measures eight inches and half, and the tail about five inches. The feathers upon the upper parts of the body are reddish grey, striped in the centre with blackish brown; the brow, a patch over the eyes and a line above and below the cere are white, the under side and a stripe on the upper wing are yellowish white, the quills black, and the tail-feathers bordered with black and white at their sides. The eye is golden yellow, the beak yellow with black tip, the foot straw-colour, and the eyelids yellow. The plumage of the young is principally of a rust-red. These birds are natives of the desert and barren districts of Northern Africa, Western Asia, and Southern Europe, being especially numerous in Syria, Persia, Arabia, and India. Such as occupy the most northern portions of their _habitat_ go south late in the autumn and return to their former haunts early in spring, whilst such as dwell in the countries watered by the Mediterranean remain throughout the entire year in the same localities. In Egypt, notwithstanding their usual preference for barren tracts, the Stone Curlews not only venture into towns and perch upon houses, but occasionally make their nests on the roofs, always provided that the situation be such as to permit them to have a clear space about them, and an elevated perch from whence they can reconnoitre in order to elude the approach of danger. A nearly-allied species, residing in South Africa, frequents the outskirts of forests, selecting spots thickly covered with brushwood, in which it conceals itself if alarmed. The Common Thick-knee