4 3T0NE-C URLEW.
take up a position and examine the surround in g slopes of Hie Downs through the glasses, I enme
unexpectedly on the Teniale Curlew, who got up within the distance of half n dozen paces and made off,
running rapidly for twenty or thirty yard- before spreading her wings. Having a few minutes previously
handiil my gun to a keeper, so us to make use of the binoculars, I lost an easy chance of procuring
the Dint. There was little doubt she had risen from her eggs, which were soon discovered, and I then
looked about for the nearest cover to niTurd concealment and from wdiich to watch her return. At the
distance or about sixty yards a stunted thorn-bush offered a capital hiding-place, but it was clear that
n closer approach must he made in order to obtain an effective shot. Front the bush to the spot where
the eggs were deposited the ground sloped upwards, and was a bare open hill-sido with very short grass
and a few small tufts of heather and furze. Alter taking up my position the male came in sight,
flying slowly round and finally alighting near the nest; he was once within shot, but the female only
was required to complete the pair. The small protuberance on the beak was distinctly visible through
the glasses us the bird stood upright with outstretched neck near the eggs; a few minutes later the
female came in sight and at once settled down higher up the hill. The male then rose and flew straight
away up Ihc valley between the Downs, nnd the female commenced descending the hill towards the
nest. She was apparently somewhal restless or alarmed, and moved very slowly, pausing from time to
time, stretching out her neck to its fullest extent and gazing intently around with her large yellow eyes.
About a i|uarler of an hour was ltassed before she dropped on her eggs, and then she sat turning her head from
side to side, the great length of her neck affording a goad chance Tor observation. I could see no chance
to approach within range, unless it was possible to creep up behind a small bash of wild raspberries and
brambles, nliout a couple of feet in height, that grew within twenty yards of the nest. It was impossible
to proceed straight to this small raspberry-plant from the thorn bush without attracting the attention of
the bird, so I carefully crawled backwards down hill till she was lost sight of. Then moving under the
brow till the cover I was making for was brought in line with the spot where the bird was sitting, I
commenced the ascent. It was slow work, forcing the gun along in front and creeping flat down over
the surface of the ground, as the shelter afforded by the plants and weeds was so small. After making
my way about fifty yards, a glimpse of the bird was caught through the upper twigs of the raspberry-bush ;
the Last few yards up to the plant occupied some time, but at length it was reached, and a rest was now
needed before making an attempt to shoot. The Curlew still kept her neck stretched out and continued
turning her bead in all directions; on rising suddenly up the poor bird fluttered off, offering an easy
chance for n shot, and fell dead to n charge of No. ¡1 at about thirty yards' distance. I remarked that
all the breeding-places of this species met with and examined on the South Downs were on the slopes
of the hills facing the south or west; there is never any appearance of a nest, only a slight depression in the
ground, in which the eggs are deposited. After taking the eggs, I bad them placed at once under a hen
at St. Mary's Farm in hopes that the young might he produced in due time. On referring to a couple of
our beat-reputed authorities on British Birds. I learned that one asserted that this species sat for sixteen,
nnd the other for sixteen or seventeen days; the man who bad undertaken to look after lliein was
accordingly directed to remove the eggs if not hatched out in twenty days. As no sign of n change
was seen at that time, he took them away, but accidentally breaking one discovered that the young were
just on the point of batching. I saw the downy mites shortly after death, and it appeared that they
would shortly have broken the shell ; as such was the case, twenty-one or twenty-two days must Ijc
the period of incubation of this species.
The Piatt gives a life-sized representation of the beads of the malo and female of this species, and is
taken from the birds, previously referred to, shot on the Downs between Palmer and IJUVOS, in Sussex, on
the 11th and BSrd of May, 1671 The small kuohs or protuberances on the baso of the upper inaudible of
8TONE-CUBLBW. 5
the male are shown as they are seen in life ; being only soft and fleshy they disappear in a day or two
after the death of the bird. This fact sadly puzzled many of the ornithological wiseacres some years back,
and they hunted out the dried specimens in several museums to discover if the birds laid signs of these
marks, as they had never heard before that the males exhibited this peculiarity. Possibly it is only very
old birds that show it: the two adult males, however, that I closely examined while alive on the Downs
had these knobs well developed on the baso of their beaks, though, if I am nut mistaken, all sigus of
them vanished in a couple of days from the specimen I shot.