PLATE II 

 LAPWING. Vanellus -vulgaris 



May ist, 1895. The nest from which this Plate is taken is a very typical 

 specimen of the Lapwing's nest in a ploughed field. The bird seems to be 

 very partial to this situation, though the nest is not nearly so well concealed 

 in this case as it is when it is placed among grass or heather. The top of 

 the ridge is always chosen, and a slight hollow is made and lined carelessly 

 with a few straws or bits of grass root picked up close by. A sloping field 

 with a southern exposure is much preferred, and under such favourable 

 conditions many nests may be found in close proximity. 



After the eggs have been laid some time they become caked with mud 

 from the birds' feet, and when this is dry they look very like little balls of 

 mud, though the symmetry of their arrangement scarcely leaves room for 

 doubt as to their identity. The nests in this particular field had all been 

 emptied of their contents two or three times before, hence the lateness of the 

 date, but in spite of this all the nests we found with eggs had their full 

 complement. 



I counted sixty or seventy nests, but only eleven contained eggs or young 

 birds, many of the others being hatched out and the nestlings gone, and the 

 nests had been already robbed of their contents. The old birds left the field 

 entirely after flying about above our heads for a short time, and scolding us, 

 and retired to the neighbouring fields, from which they watched our 

 movements, flying over singly every now and then to see if we had taken 

 away their eggs or young. 



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