40 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



of level bottomland were covered by unbroken sheets of 

 water. Fine weather followed, and shortly after the 

 floods I found a good number of newly-laid eggs on the 

 ground where the floods had been. The high water mark 

 was clearly defined by the usual wreckage and scum of 

 dry grass and rushes, which forms ideal substance for the 

 birds to nest upon, and following the line of flotsam I 

 was surprised to find a great number of stranded eggs 

 washed up by the floods ! For weeks after more eggs 

 and still more were found lying addled among the 

 wreckage, so when, before the flood, I concluded that the 

 birds had not begun to lay, I was evidently much mistaken. 

 Certainly laying was not in full swing, yet numberless 

 eggs had been destroyed, and one can imagine what 

 damage would have occurred had the floods come a week 

 later. For, unlike the human collector, who walks over 

 many more eggs than he takes, the floods take all — 

 newly-laid and otherwise, even chicks. In a wet season, 

 therefore, flood water ranks foremost among the lapwings' 

 foes. 



I have seen a tawny owl systematically hunting the 

 breeding haunts of lapwings during the season that the 

 newly-hatched birds are about, and, of course, the carrion 

 and hooded crows make inroads into their numbers. 

 The preservation of game is much in the lapwing's favour, 

 for its delicate flesh is prized by all predatory birds and 

 beasts, yet this bird may generally be described as a 

 flourishing species. Of course there are many localities 

 where a melancholy shrinkage is evident, but to oflFset 

 this it is practically undisturbed in many of its vast 

 breeding haunts in the Highlands, while the Netherlands 

 are a source of almost inexhaustible supply. It is dis- 

 tressing to see strings of lapwings set up for sale in our 

 cities, for it has been proved repeatedly that the bird 

 cannot stand this direct drainage on its numbers. It 



