362 THE PLOVER. 



seven inches in thickness, were introduced ; upon these 

 were thrown a number of garden-worms, which buried 

 themselves in the sods as fast as they could. Care was 

 taken to keep them moist by frequent waterings. The 

 Lapwing, when disposed to make her meal, mounted one 

 of these sods, and, standing on one leg, kept regularly 

 beating the turf with the other. Worms, as we have 

 already shown, in speaking of the manner in which 

 Starlings and Thrushes feed upon them, are very sensi- 

 tive of danger ; and their great enemy being the mole, 

 no sooner do they perceive a vibration or shaking motion 

 in the earth, than they make the best of their way to 

 the surface, and thus fall into a greater and more certain 

 peril ; for, as in the case of the Starling or Thrush, so in 

 the present instance, no sooner did it make its appear- 

 ance than the Lapwing drew it out, and having disposed 

 of it, renewed his operations till he had fully satisfied 

 himself. 



But we have another story to tell of a certain species 

 of Plover's meals, far more extraordinary, and which we 

 should feel great hesitation in relating, had not the 

 original observer of former days been supported by eye- 

 witnesses of later times. Herodotus, an old Grecian 

 historian, asserted, that there was a certain . small bird 

 which, as often as the crocodiles came on shore from the 

 river Nile, flew fearlessly within their jaws, and relieved 

 them of a peculiar kind of leeches which infested their 

 throats. This ancient historian added, that, although 

 other birds invariably avoided the crocodile, it never did 

 this bird any injury. So extraordinary a story was 

 treated as fabulous by all naturalists. It is, notwith- 

 standing, strictly true, M. Geoffry Saint Hilaire, an 

 eminent and accurate French naturalist, confirms the 

 fact beyond a doubt. The bird alluded to is the Egyp- 

 tian Plover (Charadrius uEgyptiacus), which sometimes 

 enters the mouth of the crocodile, attracted thither, not, 

 according to his account, by leeches, but by a small in- 

 sect like a gnat, which frequents the banks of the Nile 



