PLOVERS' EGGS. 47 



days. If the first lot of eggs are taken the birds lay 

 again and again, so that the harvest may be prolonged 

 with judicious management for nearly two months. 



Plovers' eggs are by no means the only ones that find 

 their way to the table. The tempting price these eggs 

 command, especially in early spring, is the cause of 

 many frauds being perpetrated. The eggs of several 

 other birds are often passed off upon the ignorant and 

 unsuspecting public as those of the Lapwing. Even 

 those of the Sparrowhawk, the Moorhen, and the Coot 

 are often their deputy ; and those of the Black-headed 

 Gull are sold as Plovers' eggs perhaps most frequently of 

 all. This is the gull that might, in the winter of 1887-88, 

 have been seen flying up and down the Thames between 

 London Bridge and Chelsea. It breeds in enormous 

 colonies in Norfolk, and its eggs are regularly harvested 

 for culinary purposes. As garnishes for dishes they are 

 equally as attractive in appearance, and in flavour there 

 is not much to choose between them, those of the Lap- 

 wing being slightly richer. Later on in the season the 

 eggs of many other Gulls are collected for food, but they 

 seldom or never find their way to inland markets. This 

 is to be regretted, for these eggs are singularly rich and 

 delicate in flavour ; even those of such species as the 

 Guillemot and the Razorbill being extremely palatable. 

 The wonder is that some enterprising individual has not 

 started the importation of these eggs on a grand scale. 



