PLOVERS' EGGS 



THERE is a story of a wealthy convalescent who 

 was heard to say, with a wistful look in her eyes, 

 " What a nice thing a new-laid egg would be 

 if it were not so cheap." This is the whole secret 

 of the charm of the plover's egg, whose first 

 appearance in the spring market is to some the 

 first genuine proof of spring. Plovers' eggs are 

 delicacies, partly because they are tolerably good 

 eggs, but chiefly because they run to a fancy price. 

 They are better " to eat " than terns' eggs ; but 

 terns' eggs are often sold as plovers' eggs, and 

 90 per cent, of the eaters declare that they per- 

 ceive in them that subtle deliciousness of flavour 

 which they believe to be appropriate to the egg 

 of the lapwing. Having consumed eggs in great 

 variety and number, at an age when consideration 

 of price is incapable of affecting gastronomic 

 judgment, I should say that those of the barndoor 

 fowl, fresh, hold, for sheer merit, an easy first 

 place ; that those of the game birds pheasant, 

 partridge, grouse are entitled to tie for second 

 place ; that those of the plover come in before, 

 and those of the tern and black -headed gull after, 

 those of the duck. But the plover's egg is early 



