100 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



hedgerows or moors within reach of our great cities. 

 At the present moment, for instance, in the meadows 

 between Hampstead and Hendon, within five miles 

 of seething London, the green plover, the kestrel, 

 and other birds are constantly accessible to the 

 observant eye. 



The plovers, an interesting and widely distributed 

 group of birds, as well known in South Africa as 

 they are in Britain, have some peculiar habits which 

 distinguish them from all feathered fellows. And 

 of these habits one of the best known and commonest 

 is their trick of simulating lameness, and displaying 

 extraordinary antics, in order to draw off the passer- 

 by from the vicinity of their nests and young. The 

 common green plover, or lapwing, is an excellent 

 exponent of these antics — none better, indeed, in 

 the whole family. This handsome bird — the peewit 

 of the English, peesweep of the Scotch, dix-huit of 

 the French — enjoys an immense geographical distri- 

 bution, and is to be found not only all over Europe, 

 but also in North Africa, and in Asia, as far even as 

 far-off China. Besides its trick of diverting atten- 

 tion from its eggs and offspring, this plover has 

 another singular habit, shared with other members 

 of the plover family, a habit of teasing and crying at 

 — almost of threatening — human beings. In the 

 grim and dangerous days, when the Covenanters met 

 in conventicle upon the desolate hill-sides and lonely 



