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2. VANELLUS. 



VANELLUS ) LAP-WING, PEE-WIT, OR 

 GAVIA. LEACH.) TEWIT. 



Tr. pedibus rubris, crista dependente, pectore niyro. 

 Lath. 



: > 



The bill is black; irides large, light hazel; the 

 head is black, glossed with green ; a crest of black 

 feathers rises from the back part of the head ; the 

 sides of the head and neck are white; the throat 

 is black ; the back and wing-coverts are dark green, 

 glossed with purple and blue reflections ; the breast 

 and belly are snowy white; the upper tail-coverts 

 and vent are pale chesnut; the tail is white, tipped 

 with black ; the legs are red. 



Var. brownish. 



The female lays two eggs on a little dry grass; 

 they are olive coloured, spotted with black. The 

 young are able to run within a day or two after they 

 are hatched. 



The chief food of lap-wings are worms, which they ob- 

 tain by striking the ground near a worm-cast, when the 

 reptile issues forth, and is seized ; in the evening they 

 also take them readily when the dew is upon the ground, 

 and the worms begin to creep about. 



