LAPWING. 



291 



known as the Peewit, a name which it has obtained 

 from its singular waiHng and mournful note, which it 

 utters on the wing and which, when heard at night, 

 suggests something weird and uncanny. 



The birds collect in large flocks in the autumn and 

 winter and are sometimes seen in company with Rooks 

 and Starlings ; they seem sociable birds and in the 



breeding season several of them often breed in close 

 proximity. At this season they become very wary 

 and shy. If their breeding-place is approached the 

 old bird will slip off^, and running some distance will 

 then rise into the air and commence circling overhead, 

 ducking and tumbling, rising a few yards upwards and 

 turning over sharply almost with a complete somerset, 

 then darting down within a few yards of one, and all 



