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THE GOLDEN-BREASTED TRUMPETER. 



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 })ointed at the 

 other, and the bird always arranges them with their small end inward, 

 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 black- 

 ish brown, and they harmonize so weW 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 " plovers' eggs " they are 

 in great request for the table, and are sought by persons who make a 



The Lapwing ( Vitnellus cridalus). 



trade of them, and who attain a wonderful expertness at the business of 

 gathering them. 



The food of the Lapwing consists almost wholly of grubs, slugs, 

 worms, and insects. It is easily tamed, and is often kept in gardens 

 for the purpose of ridding them of these destructive creatures. In 

 the garden next our own a Lapwing was kept, and lived for some years, 

 trippmg featly over the grass and thoroughly at home. 



The Golden-breasted Trumpeter is a handsome bird, remarkable 

 for the short velvety feathers of the head and neck, and their beautiful 

 golden green lustre on the breast. The body of this bird is hardly 

 larger than that of a fowl, but its legs and neck are so long as to give 

 It the aspect of being much larger than it really is. Like most birds 

 of similar structure, it trusts more to its legs than its wings, and is 



