THE LAPWING. 317 



a lovely green, loricated with metallic purple and 

 bronze. 



The Lapwings visit the inland districts for the purpose 

 of rearing their young. About the period of the vernal 

 equinox they leave the coast and retire to their old 

 upland haunts, where they soon pair, and the duties 

 which sent them thither commence. As we wander 

 over their breeding grounds the birds rise, but seldom 

 indeed remaining upon their nestuntil closely approached, 

 and wheel in airy flight above our heads. But do not 

 confine your attention to the birds alone, if you wish a 

 sight of their home and eggs. As you approach a little 

 reed tuft, the Lapwing just above your head drops 

 to the ground, and uttering its mournful note appears to 

 be severely wounded a sure sign that you are near the 

 object you seek. Disregard the motions of the parent 

 bird, and confine your attention to the reed tuft, and 

 there you will doubtless see the cause of the bird's strange 

 and varied antics. In the centre of the tuft, mayhap, 

 a little home has been constructed ; merely a hollow 

 lined with a few bits of withered herbage, and the eggs, 

 always four in number, if the full complement is 

 deposited, lie in the nest with their small or pointed 

 ends turned inwards, to take up the least possible amount 

 of space. You find the eggs subject to little variety, 

 although they differ sometimes in size and shape. They 

 are pale olive-green or brown in ground colour, spotted 

 and blotched with deep brown approaching to black. 

 As you examine them, you will probably note that they 

 are very large when compared with the size of the bird, 

 a circumstance, by the way, common to birds known as 

 Waders. Nests of the Lapwing are also often found 

 on grass lands, usually on the summit of a mole hill ; or 

 the eggs are found in the lowland districts, on the 



