Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/277

Rh for a few weeks after their arrival. During this period, too, they seem to frequent the uplands by night in preference to the riverside marshland, their querulous notes sounding from all quarters. After this period, when the duties of nidification are in full swing, these birds may be seen following their accustomed lines of flight from the heaths to the river side, generally about two hours after sunset. Stevenson was unable to determine what amount of truth there was in this nocturnal "flighting" to the alluvium, but it is an undoubted habit in this district. Although the Stone Curlew is a bird of extreme wariness, it is possible on Thetford Warren to get within ten yards of flocks numbering from twelve to twenty in the months of May and June. In the 'Fauna of Norfolk,' Lubbock says that they were sometimes observed in flocks of from eighty to a hundred prior to their autumnal migration, but personally I have never seen a flock containing more than twenty-five. This may possibly be accounted for by the fact that, whereas in Lubbock's time the country was practically bare, and formed one vast heath, now, by the extensive planting of quick-growing trees, numerous plantations divide the heathland into sections, and it may be that only the birds of these smaller sections at present collect together, where of yore their area was much more extended. These flocks may be seen and heard together in the daytime, but after dark one never hears more than a pair calling together from any one quarter. A commonly accepted idea is that the Stone Curlew is disinclined to utter its note during the day, but is with regard to whistling essentially a bird of the night. In this district they always when disturbed,—whatever the hour of the day,—fly off whistling. Another curious fact may be noticed during a shower of rain in summer. A few minutes after the commencement of the downfall the majority of the Curlews fly down from the upland heaths to the nearest water, where I presume the rain has the effect of driving their food out of its haunts, thus enabling them to more easily capture it. From Knettishall and Stonehouse Heaths, and Thetford Warren and Abbey Heath, these birds fly down to the Little Ouse river, but on the heaths north of Thetford—Roudham, Bridgham, Wretham and Croxton—the Curlews invariably fly towards the meres, which are small sheets of water situated in the wildest portion of the Norfolk heathland. This, however, is more noticeable late in the season, in August and September, when they may find greater difficulty in always