Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 425 



Wattled Lapwings {Sarciophorus pector alls) ,ohi2imedi from a 

 dealer in the previous year^ made a slight excavation in the 

 gravel-path in their compartment — the edges being slightly- 

 raised above the level of said path — and lined it (if I may 

 use that expression) with small stones^ which they trod in, or 

 arranged with their beaks, so as to jjresent a tolerably smooth 

 interior surface ; no other lining of any kind was used. 



On March 7th an egg was found in this nest. I may 

 roughly describe this egg as of a dull olive-green with brown 

 spots and blotches ; it was smaller than an average egg of 

 our Common Peewit, and less pyriform, although in colour 

 it closely resembled some varieties of that species. There 

 was a second egg in the nest on March 9th, and my aviary- 

 keeper assured me that two " nest-eggs " that were placed in 

 the nest were removed and broken by some Oyster-catchers 

 which, with other species, shared the same compartment. 

 A third egg was laid away from the nest, and the birds began 

 to make another nest in the same fashion on March 11th. 

 To make a long story short, three or four eggs were laid in 

 this second nest, and three birds eventually hatched out. One 

 of them died shortly afterwards, and in 1895 only one of the 

 whole famil}^ — a young female of the 1892 brood — survived. 



In the present year (1896) the bird just mentioned paired 

 with a Cayenne Lapwing {Vanellus cayennensis). These 

 birds formed a nest, this time on the turf, using no stones 

 in its construction. There were two eggs in the nest on 

 February 25th, and the birds began to sit, taking alternately 

 their turns in incubation. A third egg was in the nest on 

 February 29th. The weather was extremely cold and wet, 

 and all three eggs proved to be addled. 



Three or four more eggs were laid in the same nest in the 

 first week of April, but destroyed — as we believe — by mice. 

 I am sorry I have no exact record in my journal as to the 

 precise dates, but on April 20tli the female bird was sitting 

 on two eggs in a pcbble-nest exactly resembling the first 

 mentioned above, adding two to this number afterwards. 

 On May 16th one young Plover was running about, both 

 parents being^extremely watchful and jealous of the approach 



