On the Stone Curlew or Norfolk Plover

133

THE FISHES OF SUFFOLK. [CHIMAERIDAE.

Extinct Rabbit-fishes.—Dental plates, pertaining to species of both these Eocene genera, have been met with in our Red Crag (Vict. Hist.). T h e former is represented in Ipswich Museum.

i

Cylindracanthus (Coelorhynchus) rectus, Agas.

Extinct Chimaera.—The fragment of a spine, found in the Eocene Stratum at Woodbridge, has been assigned to this species (in Brit. Mus.)— Ed.] SÜMMARY OF SÜFFOLK

SPECIES.

Extant Extinct

151 43 Total

..

..

194 (1 Nov. 1933)

ON THE STONE CURLEW OR NORFOLK PLOVER. BY

GEORGE B I R D .

THE Aristocrat of the Heathlands with a wonderful eye is surely this handsome and stately bird ((Edicnemus scolopax, Gm.), which returns each year from the arid wastes of Africa to make a nursery within our borders. For several seasons I have observed the species in East Suffolk, and find its most prominent habit is to return each year and nest in the same haunts. In fact, my Observation " h i d e " could well have remained from one season to the next in the same spot, if waterproof, for the returning bird scarcely moved from its former site. That this be the identical individual is proved : Düring 1929 I ringed a young specimen; the following year I photographed this previous season's chick, at once identified by its ring, at its nest close to the site of its own hatching ; this year I again photographed the chick of 1929, while it was standing over its own clutch of two eggs, upon the same spot. One wonders how far it has travelled during the intervening periods, and what became of the parent whose place it occupies.

The sexes are similar : only when watching them together at close ränge can one detect the prouder bearing, and slightly more sheen on the outer feathers, of the male. T h e most noticeable feature is the large and handsome eye, that seems to penetrate the observer's " h i d e " and can indeed discern danger afar.

THE

STONE

CURLEW

AND

ITS

ECGS.

134

ON THE STONE CURLEW OR NORFOLK PLOVER.

T h e nest is merely a scrape, lined with rabbits' buttons. I have observed pairs during the courting period, when but little excitement or display is evinced : their habit being always reserved and stately, so that it is scarcely possible to teil the sex of either bird. They appeared to have already paired unnoticed, though watched from as early as the second week in March. During courting, scrapes for nests are formed some days before the eggs, which are laid upon alternate days, have been deposited : for this in 1929 the earliest date was 1 April. Incubation begins as soon as the second egg is laid, and extends to six-and-twenty days. Both parents take part in the process : one sits on the nest, the other acts as sentinel and occasionally moves quite close to the nest but never remains there long. Usually the latter stands in a convenient shelter at some distance away ; and, if any imminent danger be apprehended, it Utters the weird and mournful waii resembling that of a human being in great pain. That the eggs never touch has often been noted : I took the accompanying photograph to show the bird's habitual stance with one foot between the eggs and not, as is that of most brooding kinds, with both wide apart over them. It has been generally thought that only one brood is reared each year ; but I was able to definitely prove that at least occasionally two broods are reared on 13 September 1932, which is the latest known date for hatching (cf. Trans, ii, p. 93).

T h e chicks are at first weakly on their legs, but soon leave the nest. This year a pair, hatched out in the evening, were seen several yards away early the next day ; their habit is to shuffle along with extended wings and legs, and the head held well forward. These chicks' first food is supplied, like that of domestic fowls, from the reserve in the egg; and the young bird begins to pick for other food as soon as it is strong enough to move about.

Suffolk and Norfolk brecklands have often been regarded as the chief nesting sites in Britain ; and it would be interesting if a census were obtainable of the numbers breeding within a given area.

But, owing to their exceedingly elusive habit of rarely placing even two nests in juxtaposition and never forming a colony, such a task is difficult if not impossible.

THE

HEMIPTERA FIRST

OF

SUFFOLK.

SUPPLEMENT.

FOR the sake of convenience, all the British Hemiptera are divided here into (a) the Half-wing Bugs called Heteroptera, and (b) the Whole-wing Bugs called Homoptera, and the latter into their six main families:—Cicadidae, Psyllidae, Coccidae, Aphididae, Thripidae and Pediculidae. All the Heteroptera and that part of the Homoptera which treats of Cicadidae and Psyllidae were