LAPWING. 57 



VANELLUS CRISTATUS*. 

 LAPWING. 



(Plate 27.) 



Vanelhis vanellus, liriss. Orn. v. p. 04, pi. viii. Hg. 1 (1700). 



Triiiga vanellus, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 248 (1766). 



Vanellus capella, Schaeff", Mus. Orn. p. 49 (1789). 



Vanellus vulgaris, Bechst. Orn. Tuschenb. ii. p. 313 (1803). 



Vanellus cristatus, Wolf et Meyer., Vog. DeutscJd. ii. p. 110 (1805) ; et auctorum 

 plurimorum — Naumann, Gould, Oraij, Schlegel, HeuyUn, Rilppell, Tristram, 

 Swinhoe, Godman, Jerdon., Brehm, Reinhardt, Bolle, Cahanis, Finsch, Nordmann, 

 Salvadori, Baird, Di/bowskt/, Taczanoivsky, Guebel, Homeyer, Fritsch, Savi, Radde, 

 Schrenck, S/wl/ey, Saunders, &c. 



Vanellus gavia, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. S)-c. Brit. Mus. p. 29 (1816). 



Charadrius gavia (Leaeh), Lic/it. Verz. Doubt, p. 70 (1823). 



Charadrius vanellus {Briss.), rail. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 1.32 (1826). 



The Lapwing or Peewit is tbe commonest and best known of the Plovers 

 found in the British Islands. It is generally distributed throughout Great 

 Britain and Ireland, breeding in every county, and its range extending to 

 the outlying islands as far north as the Shetlands, as far west as the 

 Hebrides_, and as far south as the Channel Islands, in which latter district, 

 however, it only appears as a winter visitor. It is more abundant in the 

 southern portion of our islands in winter, its numbers being increased at 

 that season by arrivals from the continent and from Scotland. 



The Lapwing is a semi-arctic species, ranging during the breeding-season 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in Scandinavia up to the Arctic circle, 

 but in Siberia not further north than latitude 55°. It is a rj^re straggler 

 to Greenland, but is more common in summer in Iceland and the Faroes. 

 In Central Europe south of the Baltic and in the British Islands it is a 

 resident. South of Siberia it is a summer visitor to Turkestan, Mongolia, 

 and the north island of Japan. It winters in the south island of Japan, 

 China, North India, Persia, Asia Minor, the basin of the Mediterranean, 

 the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores. A few remain to breed in South- 

 western Europe. In Africa it has not been known to occur south of the 

 Desert, but a few remain to breed on the southern shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean. The Lapwing has no very near ally. 



* It is much to be regretted that Saunders should have followed the ' Ibis List ' in the 

 attempt to rob the Lapwing of the name by which it is universally known. They have 

 only succeeded in complicating the synonymy of this species, as under no circumstances 

 can the name which they have used be the correct one. Those ornithologists who wish to 

 carry out tlie rules of the Stricklandian Code regardless of consequences must use the 

 name Vanellus capella, a long-forgotten name which my good friend Dr. Stejneger has 

 attempted, let us hope unsuccessfully, to rescue from oblivion. 



