LAPWING 505 



thousands or ten-thousands ; and worse than this, the bird, wary 

 and wild at other times of the year, in the breeding-season becomes 

 easily approachable, and is (or used to be) shot down in enormous 

 numbers to be sold in the markets for " Golden Plover." Its grow- 

 ing scarcity as a species was consequently very perceptible in this 

 country until an Act of Parliament in 1872 frightened people into 

 letting it alone, when its numbers immediately increased, to the mani- 

 fest advantage of many classes of the community — those who would 

 eat its eggs, those who would eat its flesh (at the right time of year), 

 as well as the agriculturists whose lands it frequented, for it is ad- 

 mitted on all hands that no bird is more completely the farmer's friend. 

 What seems to be the secret of the Lapwing holding its position in 

 spite of slaughter and rapine is the adaptability of its nature to 

 various kinds of localities. It will find sustenance for itself and 

 its progeny equally on the driest soils as on the fattest pastures ; 

 upland and fen, arable and moorland, are alike to it, provided only 

 the ground be open enough. The wailing cry ^ and the frantic 

 gestures of the cock -bird in the breeding- season vnW tell any 

 passer-by that a nest or brood is near ; but, unless he knows how 

 to look for it, little save mere chance will enable him to find it. 

 Yet by practice those who are acquainted with the bird's habits 

 Avill accurately mark the spot whence the hen silently rises from 

 her treasiu-e, and, disregarding the behaviour of the cock, which is 

 intended to delude the intruder, will walk straight to one nest 

 after another as knowing beforehand the exact position of each. 

 In many cases they will know, from the hen's behaviour, the number 

 of eggs they will find, and whether she has begun to sit. The nest 

 is a slight hollow in the ground, wonderfully inconspicuous even 



a little similarity of shell to the latter, and a difierence of flavour only to be 

 detected by a fine palate. It is estimated that 800,000 Lapwings' eggs are yearly 

 sent to ■ England from the one province of Friesland in Holland (see Ornith. 

 Centralbl. 1877, p. 108). 



^ This sounds like 'pec-wcet, with some variety of intonation. Hence the 

 names Peewit, Peaseweep, and Teuchit, commonly applied in some parts of 

 Britain to this bird. — though the first is that by which one of the smaller Gulls, 

 Larus ridihundus, is known in some of the districts it frequents. In Sweden Vipa, 

 in Germany Kiehitz, in Holland Kicwiet, and in France Dixhuit, are names of the 

 Lapwing, given to it from its usual cry. Other English names are Green Plover 

 and Horn-pie — the latter from its long hornlike crest and pied plumage. The 

 Lapwing's conspicuous crest seems to have been the cause of a common blunder 

 among our writers of the Middle Ages, who translated the Latin word Vjmpa, 

 properly Hoopoe, by Lapwing, as being the crested bu'd with which they were 

 best acquainted. In like manner other writers of the same or an earlier period 

 Latinized Lapwing by Egrettides (plural), and rendered that again into English 

 as Egrets — the tuft of feathers misleading them also. A common Italian name 

 is Pavoncella (Little Peahen), and that has led to some amusing mistakes. The 

 word Vanelhis is said to be from vannus, the fan used for winnowing corn, and 

 refers to the audible beating of the bird's wings. 



