THE LAPWING. 361 



it. In two instances, amongst many, they were found 

 to sit so close, that they allowed themselves to be lifted 

 off their nests, rather than fly away. It is remarkable 

 how much the same instinctive habits prevail in similar 

 families of birds. Those who may not have had oppor- 

 tunities of witnessing these manoauvres by the Sand- 

 pipers, have probably often watched the similar proceed- 

 ings of our common Lapwing or Pewit, which decoys a 

 dog or a stranger away, either by screaming close to his 

 ear, as she flits by in a sort of tumbling flight, or by 

 scrambling along the ground as if wounded, when the 

 young brood are in danger. Indeed, these latter birds, 

 above any others, have need of all the art and cunning 

 they can muster to save their eggs, which are eagerly 

 sought after in the places where they are known to 

 breed, for the purpose of selling them at a high price, as 

 a luxurious article of food. 



In the Orkney Islands, to the north of Scotland, they 

 were, and possibly still are, allowed to breed unmolested ; 

 and their increase is consequently very great. Probably 

 they were once equally unmolested in every other part 

 of North Britain, which may account for a curious Act 

 of Parliament, said to have been passed many years ago 

 in Scotland, for encouragement to destroy them as "un- 

 grateful" birds; "for that they come to Scotland to 

 breed, and then returned to England with their young to 

 feed the enemy*." Their food consists chiefly of grubs 

 and insects, easily procured in the low mossy grounds, 

 which they prefer. Earth-worms, too, form a large por- 

 tion of their diet ; but, as their bills are neither so long 

 or so strong as to pierce deep enough into the soil to 

 get at them, they adopt the following clever mode of 

 inducing them to show themselves above ground, when 

 they are instantly seized by the watchful Lapwing. A 

 friend of ours, one day finding a young Plover, carried it 

 home, and kept it in a confined place. In addition to 

 its common food, a few square pieces of turf, six or 



* Letters from the North of Scotland, vol. i. 



