382 CHARADKID^. 



Avastes. Though numerous in the same localities, they are 

 not gregarious during spring and summer, and are remark- 

 able for their fearlessness of man. So tame, indeed, are 

 they that, in little-frequented places, when disturbed by 

 the traveller they will run along the stony ground a few 

 yards in front of him, then fly a few yards, then stand 

 and stare and run along as before. On such occasions 

 they frequently utter their singular cry — the note so often 

 referred to in Sir Walter Scott's poems — which, like the 

 JS'ightingale's song, is considered simply plaintive or pain- 

 fully woe-begone, according to the natural temperament or 

 occasional mood of the hearer. This bird builds no nest ; 

 a natural depression in the ground, unprotected by bush, 

 heather or rock, serves its purpose, and here the female 

 lays four eggs, much pointed at one end, and arranges 

 them, in accordance with the custom of the Plover tribe, 

 in the form of a cross, with the smaller end inwards. 

 " The young," says Macgillivray, " leave the nest imme- 

 diately after they burst the shell, and conceal themselves 

 by lying on the ground. At this period the female evinces 

 the greatest anxiety for their safety, and will occasionally 

 feign lameness to entice the intruder to pursue her. I 

 have several times seen one fly off" to a considerable dis- 

 tance, alight in a conspicuous place, and tumble about as 

 if in the agonies of death, her wings flapping as if they 

 had been fractured or dislocated." 



When the young are fledged, they unite into flocks and 

 resort to the moist cultivated lowlands where earthworms 

 are abundant. While engaged in feeding they run rapidly, 

 occasionally stopping as if to look around them, and trample 

 on the ground as if to alarm the worms and frighten them 

 from their holes. They are not much in the habit of fre- 

 quenting marshes for the purpose of feeding, but several 

 times in the day they repair to watery places for the sake of 

 bathing, or, more probably, of cleansing their feet from 

 the mud contracted in this occupation. 



