CHARADRIID^.. 



539 



q^':?^'^ - 



THE LAPWING. 



Vanellus vulgaris, Bechstein. 



The Lapwing, also called the Peewit, owes the first name to the 

 slow flapping of its rounded pinions, while the latter is obviously 

 derived from the bird's familiar cry. Throughout the British Islands 

 it is generally distributed and, as a rule, resident ; though partial 

 emigration from the north takes place in severe weather. Its 

 favourite resorts are marshy pastures and moorlands, but its breed- 

 ing-grounds, even when on flats, are usually above the risk of inun- 

 dation, though its range on the mountains seldom infringes upon 

 that of the Golden Plover. In England, drainage and the increase 

 of cultivation have tended to diminish its numbers, allowing for the 

 large flocks which annually arrive from the Continent in autumn ; 

 but in Scotland it is abundant, and is on the increase in many parts 

 of the north as well as in the Shetlands. In Ireland it is very 

 common, but Sir R. Payne-Gallwey states that its eggs are not 

 collected or appreciated there as they are in Great Britain, although 

 the birds are freely netted for the table. 



This species is only a visitor to the F;x:roes and Iceland, occa- 

 sionally wandering to Jan Mayen and Greenland ; but it breeds m 

 Northern Europe up to the Arctic circle, and is tolerably plentiful 



