The Plovers. 



171 



The Lapwing. 



THE SOCIABLE 



LAPWING. 



{CliiZ^titsia grcgaria.) 



(p. 169.) 



The food of the Lapwing consists of slugs, grubs and small insects, and on the 

 sea-shore it feeds on minute molluscs and insects, being everywhere a most useful 

 bird and deserving of every protection. The eggs form a much appreciated article 

 of food in the spring, and are diligently sought after. They are four in number, 

 pear-shaped, and are laid point to point on the ground or in a slightly-constructed 

 nest of grass in a tussock. The colour varies from dusky-olive or greenish-brown, 

 to light clay-brown, with very distinct black blotches or spots, and underlying spots ot 

 purplish-grey ; they measure about an inch-and-three-quarters in length. 



This is a species of the steppes of South-eastern Europe, and 

 has occurred once in Great Britain, when a specimen was pro- 

 cured in the autumn of i860, in Lancashire. It differs from the 

 Common Lapwing in having no crest, and is of an ashy-brown 

 colour, with the rump and upper tail-coverts pure white, the crown 

 black, as also the lower breast and 

 abdomen, with a patch of chestnut 

 on the latter. In winter it frequents 

 the uplands in flocks, preferring 

 dry and sandy places. The eggs 

 are four in number, and are very 

 like those of the Lapwing. 



This little 

 Plover has no 

 ' dertrum ' or 

 swelling at 

 the end of the i)i11, which is more 

 wedge-shaped than is usual in the 



THE 



TURNSTONE. 

 {Arcnnrin inicrpres.) 



The Turnstone. 



