Lieut. Burgess on the Birds of Western India. 513 



and grass ; they lay as many as three eggs I believe ; the eggs are 

 deposited on the bare sand The egg is rather more than l^o i^- i'^ 

 length, by y^^hs of an inch in width, of a rich stone colour, spotted 

 and streaked with grey and two shades of brown. 



Genus Vanellus. 



Vanellus bilobus (Gmel.). Yellow Wattled Lapwing. 



I have had frequent opportunities of seeing this Lapwing on the 

 open bare plains which it frequents, and have obtained specimens, 

 but never to my knowledge succeeded in procuring its eggs, though 

 I have had the eggs of Plovers brought to me in numbers. Dr. 

 Jerdon says, " I found the eggs of this bird on one occasion on a 

 grass plain on the west coast in the month of September ; they were 

 of a light salmon colour with dusky spots, four in number, and laid 

 on a slight depression of the ground." This Lapwing utters a 

 plaintive cry when on the wing ; it feeds on small beetles, white 

 ants, &c., picking up small pieces of stone or crystal to assist the 

 action of the gizzard. 



Vanellus Goensis (Lath.). Red Wattled Lapwing. 



This common Lapwing is as partial to water as the last-mentioned 

 is to dry sandy plains; indeed I do not recollect ever to have seen it 

 at any distance from water. It is very common in the Deccan, and 

 may be easily recognized by its oft-repeated cry of — " Dick did you 

 do it — Dick, Dick did you do it'* As soon as March has well set in 

 they pair, and the female commences lajdng ; she generally chooses 

 the banks of rivers and small streams. On a sand-bank in the midst 

 of the river Bheema, one of the large rivers of the Deccan, I fell in 

 with the nest of this bird — if a small heap of dry gravel with a hollow 

 in it can be called a nest — it contained four eggs. During the breed- 

 ing season these birds, vociferous at all times, become doubly so, 

 acquainting every one with the fact that their nest is near. I have 

 had their eggs brought to me as late as 19th May. On the 27th 

 May a man brought me three young ones, apparently just released 

 from their imprisonment ; their plumage was as follows : — Irides 

 dark hazel ; wattles dark brown, nearly black; the whole body covered 

 with down, that on the head and neck brown with spots of black ; 

 the front of the neck, breast and belly white ; a black streak runs 

 along the sides from the wing to the tail ; on the nape of the neck 

 there was a black patch, and another cravat-shaped patch of black 

 on the fore part of the neck and throat ; legs and feet dark lead 

 colour. 



This Lapwing, like many of the Sandpipers, has a curious fashion 

 of elevating and throwing forward the head, much like the motion 

 of bowing. It is equally active by night as by day, filling the air 

 with its taunting cry of " Did ^jou do it." If you should fire at and 

 miss one of them, he goes off with, and his companions fly round 

 you with the insulting cry of *' Did you do it ;" or, as Dr. Jerdon 

 has it, *' Pity to do it." The food of this bird consists of grass and 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 33 



