BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 79 



species is abundantly represented at all seasons in the 

 more southerly portions of the United Kingdom. 



Low - lying moorlands, and other waste ground to 

 some extent, but ploughed agricultural land more par- 

 ticularly, form the home of the Lapwing. Very marshy 

 or boggy situations are left to the Snipe, and the elevated 

 moors to the Golden Plover. Outside the nesting season 

 the open shore and the estuarine mud-flats afford it 

 congenial feeding-grounds. In these latter places it may 

 be seen in flocks occasionally numbering thousands, and 

 often hundreds, of birds. Soon after they return to their 

 nesting-grounds the flocks break up into pairs, and in 

 many districts every field has its nest. Every one is 

 familiar with the slow and rather irregular flight of the 

 bird, which has proportionately short and markedly rounded 

 wings for a Wader. When a flock is seen in flight at 

 some distance the whole appears to vibrate in a curious 

 and characteristic manner — the reason for the name 

 'Lapwing.' The widely used popular name 'Peewit'' is, 

 of course, an attempt to syllable the bird's persistent and 

 rather monotonous wailing cry. So also are the local 

 variation 'Peesweep' and the Scots name 'Teuchit.' The 

 name ' Green Plover ' has already been mentioned. We 

 may remark that it is quite a correct appellation, the 

 species being quite strictly a Plover. The 'Plover's 

 eggs' of the market, too, belong almost entirely to this 

 species. They are not very keenly collected in Ireland, 

 but are systematically taken in many parts of Great Britain. 

 Large numbers are also imported from the Netherlands 

 and from northern Germany. In all the countries 

 mentioned the eggs can be legally taken only up to a 

 fixed date ; but we fear that the law is none too strictly 

 enforced in many of our own districts. 



To give many details of the nesting economy of the 



