58 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



whether these are brought thither by the bird, or have 

 merely been brushed there in the making of the cavity, 

 I know not. Very frequently the nest is situated 

 in the ballast of the railway line. Sometimes it is so 

 placed that the footboard of every carriage passes over 

 the head of the sitting bird. There is no accounting 

 for tastes ! Four eggs are usually laid ; they are much 

 more pointed at one end than at the other, and are 

 invariably placed in the nest so as to form a star, the 

 blunt ends projecting outwards and the thin ends nearly 

 meeting at the centre. 



Lapwings' eggs are protectively coloured. Being 

 laid in the open and not hidden away in a nest, it is 

 important that they should not be conspicuous, other- 

 wise they would soon be espied and devoured by some 

 egg-eating creature. Thus they are coloured so as to 

 assimilate with their surroundings. The ground colour is 

 greenish and is boldly splotched with sepia, some of the 

 splotches being darker than others. The eggs are dull 

 and not glossy, hence are very difficult to distinguish from 

 the stones which lie round about them. From the above 

 description it will be seen that the Did-he-do-it's egg is 

 very like that of his cousin the English plover, whose 

 eggs are held to be so great a delicacy. Why these 

 eggs are so much esteemed I do not know. I suspect 

 that it is because they are difficult to find, and so 

 costly. If tripe and onions cost fifty shillings a pound, 

 this dish would probably form the piece de resistance of 

 every millionaire's banquet. 



The eggs of the Did-he-do-it, then, are interesting 

 as forming perfect examples of protectively coloured 



