VANELLUS. BIRDS. 289 



a double moult, and, like other vermivorous birds in this country, are migrants. 

 The plumage of both sexes is the same. 



* With thejirst quill-feather longest. 



V. melanogasler, Bechst. Forehead, throat, and middle of the bel- 

 ly, thighs, abdomen, and upper coverts of the tail white ; fore 

 part of the neck, eyebrows, sides of the breast and flanks varied 

 with brownish spots ; upper parts brownish black, with yellowish 

 green spots ; tail white, but reddish towards the end, banded 

 with brown. 10 inches long. Shaw, xi. 505. 



** With the three exterior quill-feathers graduated, the fourth 

 andjifth the longest. 



V. cristatus, Meyer. ( Tringa vanellus, Lin.) The Lapwing. Top 

 of the head, crest, fore part of the neck, and breast black ; upper 

 parts deep glossy green ; sides of the neck, belly, and base of 

 the tail, white ; tail-feathers terminated with a large black space, 

 except the exterior feather ; occipital feathers long, slender, and 

 turned upwards. 12 J inches long. Europe, B. Shaw, xi. pi. 38. 



In France, and some other countries, the great body of Lapwings is migratory ; 

 but in Britain most of them seem to remain the whole year, congregating in large flocks 

 in autumn. On dry ground, though usually near some marsh, the female prepares 

 3. little bed of grass, on which she lays four olive-coloured eggs, spotted with black, 

 with their narrow ends in contact, so as to occupy little space. On these she sits 

 about twenty days ; and the young are able to run within two or three days after 

 they are hatched, though they are incapable of flying till they are nearly full grown. 

 The parent shows them the greatest attachment, and practises her wiles to allure boys 

 and dogs from their retreat. When as near them as she can venture with safety, 

 she rises from the ground with a loud screaming voice, as if just flushed from hatch- 

 ing, though possibly not within a hundred yards of her nest. She now flies with 

 great clamour and apparent anxiety, whirring and screaming, striking at her dis- 

 turbers with her wings, and sometimes fluttering as if wounded. To complete the 

 deception, she becomes still more clamorous as she recedes from the nest. If very 

 near it. she appears to be altogether unconcerned ; and her cries subside in propor- 

 tion as her fears increase. The food of the lapwing consists chiefly of worms, which 

 it draws from their holes, beating the ground around the worm casts to make them rise. 



Gen. 8. STREPSILAS, Illig. Tringa, Lin. 



Bill middle-sized, hard at the point, strong, straight, slightly 

 bent upwards, ridge flattened, tip truncated ; nostrils basal, 

 lateral, half closed by a membrane ; a short naked space above 

 the knee ; the three anterior toes connected at the base by a 

 very snort membrane, and the hinder one articulated to the 

 tarsus ; wings acuminated. 



S. collaris, Tern. The Turnstone. Plumage varied with black, 

 white, and ferruginous above ; abdomen white ; under parts of 

 the cheeks and neck black ; base and tip of the tail white, the mid- 

 dle black. 8 inches long. Inhabits Europe. B Shaw, xi. pi. 39. 



The Turnstone, the only species of the genus, inhabits both the old and new con- 

 tinent, but is more common in the northern than in the southern regions. Though 

 not known to breed in Britain, it visits some of our shores in August, and departs 

 in spring. It has its vernacular name from its habit of turning up stones, to get 

 at worms and marine insects. It is found only on the coast. 



VOL I. T 



