CRESTED LAPWING. 137 



and its legs slightly bent, stopping now and then to look 

 around, when, should it apprehend danger from the intrusion 

 of a person walking in the fields, it utters its well-known 

 cry, resembling the syllables pee-wee, or pee-o-wec, rises on 

 wine, and either flies about or removes to a distance. A 

 large flock, whether on the ground or on wing, is always 

 interesting to the observer of natural objects, who finds 

 amusement where others see nothing but bare fields or 

 barren moors. Its mode of flying is peculiar, for it sedately 

 flaps its broadly-rounded wings, which seem extraordinarily 

 large, partly because of their black colour beneath, as con- 

 trasted with the pure white of the body. When proceeding 

 to a distant place, they fly with great speed, usually in an 

 irregular body, but sometimes arranging themselves in lines, 

 and generally in silence, and before alighting they perform 

 various evolutions. On settling, they stand for some time 

 quietly, and look around ; and should they perceive no indi- 

 cation of danger, scatter about. Although very shy and 

 vigilant in places that are much frequented, they are not so 

 timorous when unaccustomed to molestation ; yet, under all 

 circumstances, they are less easily approached than the 

 Golden Plovers. They can scarcely be said to associate with 

 any other species, although they may be seen in the same 

 field with Plovers, Rooks, and Gulls. In winter they ap- 

 proach the sea-shore, and at low water often betake them- 

 selves to the sands or muddy flats, to search for Crustacea 

 or mollusca ; but they never at any season fairly take up 

 their residence on the coasts. In the northern and part of 

 the middle divisions of Scotland, they migrate southward in 

 winter, part of them remaining only when the weather is 

 mild, or in peculiarly favourable places, such as the shores of 

 the Beauly Firth. 



In the middle of March, should the weather be good, 

 they return to the higher grounds and unfrequented pastures. 

 Frequently about this season, however, boisterous weather sud- 

 denly comes on, accompanied with snow or hail ; and this so 

 commonly happens in the eastern districts of the middle divi- 

 sion of Scotland, that the people always expect what they call 

 the " Tuchit's storm," about the time of the arrival of that 



