520 



THE LAPWING, OR PEEWIT. 



the look and cry are so weird-like that the observer ceases to wonder at the superstitious 

 dread in which these birds were formerly held. The French call the Lapwing " Dix-huit," 

 from its cry. 



It is the male bird which thus soars above and around the intruder, the female sitting 

 closely on her eggs until disturbed, when she runs away, tumbling and flapping about as if 

 she had broken her wing, in hopes that the foe may give chase and so miss her eggs. It is 

 certainly very tempting, for she imitates the movements of a wounded bird with marvellous 

 fidelity. 



The eggs of the Lapwing are laid in a little depression in the earth, in which a few grass 

 stalks are loosely pressed. The full number of eggs is four, very large at one end and very 

 sharply pointed at the other, and the bird always arranges them with their small end inwards, 





LAPWING. VaneUu* cristatus. 



so that they present a somewhat cross-like shape as they lie in the nest. Their color is olive, 

 blotched and spotted irregularly with dark blackish-brown, and they harmonize so well with 

 the ground on which they are laid that they can hardly be discerned from the surrounding 

 earth at a few yards' distance. Under the title of "Plover's eggs" they are in great request 

 for the table, and are sought by persons who make a trade of them, and who attain a won- 

 derful expertness at the business. The eggs are generally laid in marshy grounds, heaths, and 

 commons, where they are sometimes found by dogs trained for the purpose. They are, how- 

 ever, often placed in cultivated grounds, and I have found numbers in ploughed fields in the 

 months of April and May. At first, the novice may pass over the ground three or four times 

 without finding an egg, and may have the mortification of seeing a more experienced egg- 

 hunter go over the very same ground arid fill his bag. After a while, however, the eye becomes 

 accustomed to the business,'and the speckled eggs stand out boldly enough against theground. 

 Even the protruding ends of the bents and grass stems on which they are laid take the eye, 

 and there are very few eggs that can escape. 



