GRALLE, Or WADERS-.
Bill of various forms, but most frequently straight, pro longed in a conical direction, and compressed, more rarely depressed, or flat ; legs slender, long, more or less naked above the knee, and furnished sometimes with three, but more frequently with four, toes, or at least the rudiment of a fourth.
Many of the birds included in this order are semi-noc turnal, stalking along the margin of the sea, lakes, or rivers, and feeding on fish, or their fry, reptiles, worms, or insects. They are furnished with long wings, suited to the extensive migrations which they undertake at stated seasons, and for which purpose they associate in numerous bands, the young and the old travelling separate ly. Many of them enter into the water without swimming, but they are capable of the latter, and even of diving when occasion requires.
CEnieNEsus, Tern. Cuv. Vieill. FED0A, Leach, arts, Lath. CHARADRMS, Lin. &c. THICK-KNEE.
Bill longer than the head, straight, strong, compressed at the tip, the ridge carinated, the lower mandible with the tip angular ; nostrils placed in the middle of the beak, longitudinal, cleft, and open in front ; legs long and slender, with three toes before, connected at the base with a membrane, which extends along the toes ; tail distinctly wedge-shaped.
0. crepitans, Tern. 0. Europtrus, Vieill. Fedoa tredienenfius, Leach. Otis xdicnemus, Lath. Charadrius dicnemus, Litt. 4c. Common Thick-knee, Thick-kneed Bustard, Stone Curlew, Great, or Norfolk Plover. Grey brown, with dusky longitudinal lines above, the two pri mary quills black and white in the middle ; belly and thighs white, knees thick, as if gouty. Length eighteen inches, extent of wing twenty-six inches, and weight seventeen ounces. The young and female resemble the male, i ut are duller in their colouring.
These birds are found in various quarters of Europe, Asia, and Africa, frequenting open, hilly, and sandy or stony situations, especially heaths and large meadows, or corn fields. In France, Italy, and other southern parts of Europe, they are pretty plentifully diffused, but in Germa ny, Holland, and England, they arc more scarce. In the last-mentioned country, they principally occur in Hamp shire, Norfolk, Lincoln, and some districts of Kent. In
this island, as in France, &c. they are migratory, appear ing early in spring. and departing, possibly to Spain or Africa, in October or November. At the period of leav ing us, which they do during the night, they congregate in troops of three or four hundred, and seem to put them selves under the guidance of an individual, whose voice apparently regulates their movements. Being extremely shy and timid, they generally remain motionless while the sun is above the horizon, although their large eyes are not dazzled by the light, and they perfectly discern the approach of danger ; hut in the evening, and during night, they fly and run about, and are excessively clamorous, resorting to the more elevated spots, orapproaching houses. If roused by surprise, in the day-time, they skim over the ground with their wings, or run rapidly along the fields, and then stop short, all at once, and squat down on the ground. They feed on various insects or their larva, in search of some of which they turn up stones very dexte rously. They likewise eat snails, the contents of land shells, and even small lizards, toads, and snakes. In a small elliptical excavation in the sand, or among stones, the female deposits two or three eggs, of a cinereous-white, with incrusted-like spots, of a dusky-olive brown, and hatches them in the space of thirty days, the male remain ing by her, and assisting in rearing the young, which, though they follow their parents as soon as they. are ex truded from the shell, are long of acquiring the power of flight, and are, for a considerable time, covered with only a thick grey down. The hen usually conducts them to some stony field, where, owing to their resemblance, in general colour, to the stones, they are not easily discover ed. In very mild winters, some have been found to re main all the year in the south of England. The grating cry of the male has been compared to the turning of a rusty handle. The young are reckoned a good game, and even the full-grown birds are deemed worthy of a place at table.