PEEWIT. 419 



of the birds. Mr. Plomley sends me word that two hundred 

 dozens of Plovers' eggs were sent from Romney Marsh to 

 Dover in the season of 1839 ; and that dogs are trained for 

 the purpose of finding the eggs. A slight depression in the 

 ground, and a few dried bents serve for a nest, in which, if 

 not interfered with, four eggs are generally deposited ; these 

 are about one inch eleven lines long, by one inch four lines in 

 breadth, of an olive-coloured ground, blotched and spotted 

 nearly all over with blackish brown. The young, when 

 hatched, are covered with a yellowish fawn-coloured down, 

 mixed and spotted with brownish black, and like the chicks 

 of the Dotterel and Ring Plover, with a light-coloured collar 

 round the neck. They soon follow the parent birds, who 

 lead them to the softer parts of the soil, where food is more 

 abundantly obtained. They feed on earth-worms, slugs, and 

 insects in their various stages. From their services in this 

 way. Peewits are frequently kept in gardens, and become 

 very interesting pets. Dr. Latham says, " I have seen this 

 bird approach a worm-cast, turn it aside, and, after walking- 

 two or three times about it, by way of giving motion to the 

 ground, the worm come out, and the watchful bird, seizing- 

 hold of it, draw it forth. The habit of the Peewit of flying 

 and screaming over the head of any one who happens to go 

 near their eggs or young, was productive formerly of two very 

 opposite feelings towards them. Charles Anderson, Esq. of 

 Lea, near Gainsborough, to whom I am indebted for many 

 notes on the Birds of Lincolnshire, sends me word that a very 

 ancient Lincolnshire family, the Tyrwhitts, bear three Pee- 

 wits for their arms ; and it is said, from a tradition, that it 

 was in consequence of the founder of their family having 

 fallen in a skirmish, wounded, and being saved by his fol- 

 lowers, who were directed to the spot where he lay by the 

 cries of these birds, and their hovering over him. The 

 notice, however, so frequently given by these birds was some- 



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