PLATE I 

 LAPWING. Vanellus -vulgaris 



April z6//;, 1893. This nest was chosen from about twenty which I looked 

 at in a damp grassy meadow near the Lake of Monteith. The birds were 

 simply swarming there, and there were also many pairs of Redshanks. 



Most of the nests were rather neatly built of rushes and grass, but very 

 flat, slight structures. The eggs were all very highly incubated, and I saw 

 a great many young birds crouching among the grass trying to hide 

 themselves. I came across one nest of four eggs, all chipped, from which 

 quite a chorus of cheeping could be heard distinctly several feet from the 

 nest. "When I passed the nest about half an hour later there was only one 

 egg left in the nest, the others having hatched out, and the nestlings were 

 hidden in the grass not far away. 



It is very wonderful how soon the young birds know that danger is at 

 hand by the cry of their parents, and instantly try to hide themselves by 

 crouching motionless among the grass whenever they hear the alarm -notes. 

 They do this by instinct, though only just hatched. 



2E 105 



