on their cryptic plumage to protect them from predators. When disturbed, they freeze motionless, often in odd-looking postures. For visual predators such as raptors and humans, this works well, but it serves little purpose with animals that hunt by scent such as foxes, dingoes, or goannas. Approaching the camouflaged individual does not dissuade it from this behaviour, maintaining the rigid posture even if handled. If moving from a disturbance, they crouch and walk stealthily into vegetation, only attempting to fly if vigorously pursued. Despite their ungainly appearance and habit of freezing motionless, they are sure-footed, fast, and agile on the ground, and although they seldom fly during daylight hours, they are far from clumsy in the air; flight is rapid and direct on long, broad wings. The bush stone-curlew is probably heard more than it is seen. Its call sounds like a wail or a scream in the night. When scared, it screeches – a sound similar to the screech of a possum. A field report from Brookton, Western Australia, noted that their call was heard in response to the cry of possums shot by hunters. When threatened (presumably in the presence of a nest), they may raise their wings wide and high in an impressive threat posture and emit a loud, hoarse hissing noise. The bush curlew is sometimes recorded in flocks, but when the breeding season occurs, the number of birds in a locality is the usually just a mating pair. Like other ground-nesting birds, the females only select a site to lay the eggs and provide no other adornment to the nest; care of the site is performed by both parents. The brooding parent discreetly moves from the site if disturbed in the first few days of incubation but remains to defend an egg at a later stage of development. The parent adopts its frozen posture and lays over the eggs in an attempt to hide them. An egg that has been discovered by an intruder may be moved a short distance away. Distribution and habitat The bush stone-curlew has a broad habitat preference, but is rarely seen in rainforest, arid desert, or urban or agricultural regions. The species is found in open forest, eucalyptus woodland, rainforest edges, grassy plains, arid scrubland, and along inland watercourses. They are not a migratory species, although weather conditions may cause them to relocate to another site in a local area.