68 PLOVER GROUP 



portions of its range only in winter. Not that it is to be supposed 

 that the most northern birds reach to the extreme southern limits of 

 the habitat, but rather that a general northern movement takes place 

 in summer, and a corresponding southern movement in winter. 



In the case of such a thoroughly familiar species description is 

 almost superfluous, but for the sake of uniformity the following 

 particulars are given. In the first place, the total length of the bird 

 measures almost exactly a foot. In regard to colouring, dark green 

 with purple and bronze reflections is the prevailing tint of the upper-parts 

 in both sexes, which are superficially alike, although distinguishable by 

 a difference in the proportionate lengths of the primary quills of the 

 wings. In the cock, for example, the second, third, and fourth of these 

 quills are practically of a size, and larger than the rest, while the first 

 and sixth arc also nearly of a size ; in the hen, on the other hand, 

 the second and third quills, which are nearly equal in length, are the 

 longest, and the first is equal in length to the fourth. Nor is this all, 

 for whereas in the outspread wing of the cock the fan-shaped primaries 

 project beyond the margin of the secondaries, in the hen no such 

 superiority of size is shown. In summer the crest of the cock is longer 

 than that of his partner ; and at this season both sexes display a black 

 throat, which in winter changes to white, continuous with that of the 

 under-parts at all seasons. The colouring is thus of the ordinary 

 protective type. The dress of birds of the year resembles that of the 

 adults, with the exception that the crest is shorter, and the feathers of 

 the back and adjacent parts have greyish-buff edgings. The chick is 

 greyish buff above, spotted on the head and streaked on the back 

 with black ; and white below, except for a dark band extending nearly 

 across the breast. White, buff, and grey " sports " have been observed 

 in the adult. 



Peewits are more or less gregarious at all seasons of the year, 

 although much more so in winter than in summer. Some idea of the 

 enormous numbers in which these birds congregate may be gathered 

 from the fact that in a single field near Glasgow an observer counted 

 something like 8000 head. The food of the lapwing chiefly consists 

 of worms, insects, grubs, and slugs ; except in the case of such flocks 

 as resort in winter to the .seaside, when this diet is exchanged for one 

 of small marine and littoral creatures. The evolutions of a flock of 

 lapwings on the wing, when the birds as they wheel from time to time 

 present their silvery breasts to the spectator, is a beautiful sight. The 

 devices to which lapwings resort in order to divert the attention of 

 intruders from their eggs or young, and likewise the difficulty of 



