THE LAPWING 371 



sold in London are imported from the Continent, but the high prices 

 obtainable, especially in the early part of the season, makes "egging" 

 too profitable for the entertainment of any hope that it may be 

 entirely abandoned for some time to come in this country. In some 

 counties the bye-law prohibiting the taking of birds' eggs is extended 

 to the lapwing, but although well intentioned, this bye-law is but 

 a dead letter in the absence of special and rigorous steps for 

 carrying it out. 



It is in every way deplorable that the lapwing should so suffer 

 persecution, for, apart from other considerations, it is one of the 

 most valuable of birds to the agriculturist. Its food consists almost 

 entirely of insects, slugs, and other creatures injurious to crops, 

 and, as is certainly not the case with all birds which do good in 

 this way, there is no debit side to the account. 



The plumage of the lapwing does not undergo a great seasonal 

 change. In February black feathers begin to appear in the white 

 of chin and throat, and in March those parts become entirely black 

 in the majority of individuals. A good many however even of 

 breeding birds show a varying amount of white feathers among the 

 black, and some show but a slight speckling of black. While in some 

 pairs of birds I have watched there has been a more perfect 

 development of the black throat in the male than in the female, 

 yet I do not think it depends so much on sex as on age. Young 

 lapwings do not attain the full beauty of the adult plumage until their 

 third year, and I think if birds with imperfect black throats in the 

 breeding season could be closely examined they would be found to be 

 young birds. These can be distinguished from fully adult birds by the 

 narrow buff edges to the feathers of the back, which are not lost until 

 after the second winter, and also by the shorter crest. The fully adult 

 lapwing is an exceedingly handsome bird. The solid bronzy green of 

 its back, which is iridescent, shows blue and purple in certain lights. 

 The intense black of the broad band on its breast, contrasted with the 

 pure white coming next to it below, makes the slight embellishment 



VOL. in. SB 



