THE GREEN PLOVER OR LAPWING 



Vanellus cristatus 



Upper plumage dark metallic alternating green and 

 purple ; a dark crest of upward curling pointed feathers ; 

 under plumage white ; black chest ; orange under tail 

 coverts ; beak black ; legs brown ; eyes dark brown. Total 

 length, 13 inches. 



This is the " Lapwing " or " Peewit " of England, 

 and is a rarer bird in Egypt than at home. But if 

 you look sharp out, you ought to see it at least 

 once or twice in a run up the river, in small or 

 larger flocks — I do not ever remember to have seen 

 it singly. Why I have chosen this bird as one of our 

 fifty is, because go where you will, north or south, 

 you see the undoubted counterfeit presentment of 

 this bird engraven on the walls of all the temples. 

 Many see it, but are misled by the rather mad 

 armlike -looking thing brandished out in front of 

 the bird's face, and never see the undoubted portrait 

 of a Plover till it is actually pointed out. Why 

 this bird should have been chosen, and why the 

 owl and the vulture should have been selected 

 from the great mass of Egypt's birds, we cannot 



explain, but can only draw attention to the fact, 



in 



