THE LAPWING 385 



eggs. The young do not leave the nest for twenty-four to forty-eight 

 hours after they are born, unless disturbed. 



Especially when wounded, lapwings will take to water, and swim 

 well. A large number were observed in December 1894 resting on 

 the water in Lough Derg, Co. Limerick. 1 Young birds in down 

 have also been seen swimming ; 2 on one occasion a brood was seen 

 crossing a river while the parents circled above. 3 



Mr Robert Warren states that he has often seen lapwings take to 

 water when hard pressed by peregrines, and in one instance one was 

 taken from the water by the hawk, a most unusual proceeding. He 

 once watched a splendid flight of a peregrine at a lapwing. The latter 

 was so exhausted by its efforts in eluding the hawk, that when it at 

 last dropped into the water and swam ashore it allowed itself to be 

 caught by the observer. The peregrine "waited on" and swooped 

 when the lapwing was held up. It followed close until the lapwing 

 was liberated in some cover, when the hawk went off. 4 



Young lapwings and also other Wader species sometimes come 

 to grief by sheep's wool becoming entwined round their toes, on 

 which the damp earth accumulates until a ball is formed that 

 incapacitates them from walking. 5 By no means infrequently, the 

 wool, closely entwined, causes amputation of the toes. 6 



Flocking commences as soon as the young can fly, in fact, it may 

 be said, in some cases, to commence before. I once saw many broods 

 of young lapwings of all ages running about on some fallow-land in 

 Suffolk, while the parents, some on the ground, some flying, were in 

 such numbers as to constitute a flock. Some of these broods must 

 have been hatched a good distance away, and were conducted to this 

 part probably because suitable food was plentiful. The flocks of old 

 and young birds combined leave the nesting-grounds in July, and in 

 autumn are joined by the large flocks from Northern Europe. Their 



1 Field, Dec. 29, 1894. 2 Ibid., 1906, vol. cvii. pp. 595, 643. 



3 Ibid., 1902, vol. xcix. p. 893. Zoologist, 1904, p. 389. 



5 Field, 1884, vol. Ixiii. p. 879 ; and Ibid., 1899, vol. xciii. p. 907. 



6 British Birds (magazine), ii. p. 302. 



