or Norfolk Plover, as it is called in England, is only a summer visitor to our country, appearing in April and departing in September or October. It is most numerous in the south and south-west parts of our island, and does not go north of Yorkshire. Ireland it rarely visits. According to Mr. Salmon, of Thetford, "it is numerously distributed all over our warren and fallow lands during the breeding season, which commences about the second week in April, the female depositing her pair of eggs upon the bare ground, without any nest whatever; it is generally supposed that the males take no part in the labour of incubation; this I suspect is not the case. Wishing to procure for a friend a few specimens in their breeding plumage, I employed a boy to take them for me, this he did by ensnaring them on the nest, and the result was that all he caught during the day proved upon dissection to be males. They assemble in flocks previous to their departure, which is usually by the end of October; but should the weather continue open, a few will remain to a much later period. I started one as late as the 9th December, in the autumn of 1834. Montague records an instance of this bird being killed in Devonshire as early as February in 1807." The Stone Curlew is singularly shy and cautious in avoiding observers, and should it be disturbed, at once seeks shelter by crouching to the ground; if still followed, it endeavours to escape by running, and is rarely forced to have recourse to its wings. Its flight is gentle and easy, but seldom long sustained. During the day it usually remains quiet, and in South Africa conceals itself from the presence of man almost after the manner of an Owl. No sooner, however, has night set in, than it appears in quite a new character, darting lightly about on rapid wing in search of food and water, or running swiftly over the surface of the ground. It is not uncommon for a pair of these birds to wander for miles in search of a drinking-place, returning before morning to their usual haunts. Whilst thus actively employed, their clear resonant call of "cur-lui" is constantly heard. Frogs, lizards, mice, and occasionally eggs and small birds form their principal food; field-mice they catch after the manner of a cat, and crunch the bones previous to swallowing their prey; insects they also kill before consuming them; grains of sand and pebbles are employed to assist the process of digestion. At the commencement of spring, battles between the males frequently occur in order to obtain a desired female. The eggs, from two to three in number, are deposited about April in a slight hollow in the sand, these are about the size of Hens' eggs and of the same shape, with a pale yellowish shell, spotted and streaked with deep yellow and blackish brown. The female broods and hatches her family in about sixteen days; during this time she is carefully guarded by her watchful mate. As soon as the young quit the