COMMON LAPWING. 283 



young- and old assemble together, and frequent 

 the pastures and fallows ; some particular fields 

 being often chosen by them in preference to others, 

 probably on account of the abundance of food; 

 and here they will assemble daily for some time, 

 feeding- chiefly in twilight, or clear nights, and 

 resting during the day. Extensive meadow lands 

 are similarly frequented, as also the low merse 

 lands at the mouths of rivers, and, we believe, 

 the fenny counties. The clouds of birds that rise 

 about sunset, to seek their feeding grounds, per- 

 forming many beautiful evolutions ere they go off, 

 is incredible, except to one who has witnessed 

 it. In Holland, where this bird is extremely abun- 

 dant, and where the view on all sides is bounded 

 equally by a low horizon, thousands may be seen 

 on all sides at once, gleaming in the setting sun, 

 or appearing like a dense black moving mass 

 between its light. The extent of their pasture 

 there is almost unbounded, yet it appears fully 

 stocked. Towards the end of October and in 

 November, those which have spent the summer in- 

 land, begin to return to the flat sea coasts, where 

 they feed at the retreat of the tide, and on the low 

 lands which generally accompany this character of 

 shore, and remain until the spring again induces 

 them to travel inland. The young are esteemed 

 for the table, and plovers' eggs, which, under that 

 name (when pure), are those of the Peewit, are in 

 great request in the London and some other of our 

 large southern markets, their collection during the 



