Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk: More Especially on the Birds and FishesBrowne, Thomas, Sir
History
Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk: More Especially on the Birds and Fishes
Browne, Thomas, Sir
Natural history -- England -- Norfolk
[36] The Ring Plover is evidently the bird here referred to, but I
have never known the name of Ringlestone applied to this species in
Norfolk, nor have I met with it elsewhere. The Eryngo is now no
longer an article of commerce, and its diggers are extinct, but not
their tradition as to the position in which the eggs of this bird
are said to be placed--a "vulgar error" which does not accord with
the writer's experience. When the full complement of four eggs is
laid, they are arranged with their pointed ends towards the centre
of the nest, which is a slight hollow in the soil. The concavity of
the nest therefore, as well as the disproportionate size of the
larger end, gives the eggs somewhat the appearance of being placed
in the position referred to, but the small end of the egg is always
visible, Sir Thomas Browne does not seem to have been aware of the
remarkable fact of this essentially marine bird habitually nesting
on the sandy warrens about Thetford in the south-west of Norfolk,
far from the sea, which it still does, though in reduced numbers,
and is there known as the Stone-hatch, from its habit of paving its
nest with small stones.
The Arcuata or curlewe frequent about the sea coast.
[_Fol. 17._] There is also an handsome tall bird Remarkably eyed and
with a bill not aboue 2 inches long co[=m]only calld a stone
curlewe[37] butt the note thereof more resembleth that of a green plouer
[it _crossed out_] & breeds about Thetford about the stones & shingle of
the Riuers.
[37] This characteristic Norfolk bird is still far from rare in the
locality named by Browne, and is found in several other parts of
the county. Willughby says, "The learned and famous Sir Thomas
Brown, Physician in Norwich," informed him to the same effect, and
repeats that its note (one of the most charming sounds uttered on
the wild trackless heath on a summer's night) resembles that of the
Green (_i.e._, Golden) Plover, but in the ear of the writer it is
even more musical. In the third letter to Merrett, Browne says that
he has kept the Stone Curlew (not "four Curlews," as Wilkin has
it,) in large cages.
Auoseta[38] calld [I thinck a Barker _crossed out_] shoohingg-horne
[_written above_] a tall black & white bird with a bill semicircularly
reclining or bowed upward so that it is not easie to conceiue how it can
feed answerable vnto the Auoseta Italorum in Aldrovandus a summer marsh
bird & not unfrequent in Marshland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account