THE LAPWING 
blackish brown, paler brown, and ink-grey. ‘These are 
the eggs sold as delicacies in early spring, but they come 
from localities where the Lapwing is very much more 
abundant than it is near London. When the young can 
fly the birds begin to assemble into flocks for the autumn 
and winter. 
The adult Lapwing in breeding plumage has the head 
and neck behind and below the eye almost uniform white ; 
the head in front of the eye, and reaching downwards 
to the breast and upwards to the crown (whichis decorated 
with a long bunch of recurved plumes) is black shot with 
purple and green, but more or less mottled with white 
on the lores, ear-coverts, and over the eye ; the rest of the 
upper parts are metallic green, shot with purple on the 
scapulars and purplish green on the wing-coverts ; 
the upper tail-coverts are chestnut, the under ones paler ; 
the wings are black and white; the tail has the basal 
portion white, the terminal portion black, with small 
white tips; on the outermost feathers the white pre-. 
dominates, gradually decreasing towards the centre 
The under parts, with the exceptions already noted, 
are white. Bill black; tarsi and toes flesh-pink ; irides 
brown. Length 13 inches. In autumn the throat 1s 
more or less uniform white. ‘The young in first plumage 
have most of the feathers of the upper parts tipped with 
buff, and the crest is much shorter. ‘The young in down 
are pale reddish brown spotted and splashed with black, 
white below, with a dark band across the breast. 
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