PLOVER SHOOTING. 301 



the reigns of Charles II. and James II.* Chaucer also speaks of 

 this bird as 



" The false lapwing, alle full of trechirie." 



The flesh of the lapwing is not held in high estimation as a 

 cibarious commodity, though it may be rendered very palatable by 

 an experienced cook. The ideas of some ancient writers as to 

 this bird being a dirty feederf are erroneous, as are also other strange 

 delusions of the author of " Glantvilla," who states that philosophers 

 assert of this bird, that when it becomes old and unable to see or fly, 

 its companions pull away the feeble feathers and anoint its eyes with 

 juice of herbs. They then brood the aged patient under their wings 

 till its feathers are grown again and its sight restored.! 



But, notwithstanding these crude ideas, it appears that the lap- 

 wing was, during the fifteenth century, in higher (or at least quite 

 as high) estimation for its dietary excellence as other plovers, as we 

 find on reference to the Northumberland Household Book of that 

 period : 



" Item : It is thought goode that wypes be hade for my Lordes own mees onely 

 and to be at jd. a pece." 



" Item : It is thought good that no pluvers be bought at noo season bot onely in 

 Chrystynmas and princypall Feestes and my Lorde to be servyde therewith and 

 his Boordend and non other and to boght for jd. a pece or jd. ob. at moste." 



And, in the Account-book of the Purser of the Priory of Durham, 

 A.D. 1530 to 1534, are entered : 



" 3 plovers et 1 wype 5d." " 1 plover et 1 snype 2id." 



When these birds were more abundant than now, and at an ae:e 



' O 



when fattening fen-birds for the table was a regular trade, lapwings 



* In the " Glossary to the Complaynt of Scotland," v Thuesnek, we are 

 told that " in the south arid west of Scotland this bird is much detested, 

 though not reckoned ominous. As it frequents solitary places, its haunts were 

 frequently intruded upon by the fugitive Presbyterians, during the persecution 

 which they suffered in the disgraceful and tyrannical reigns of Charles the Second 

 and James the Second, when they were often discovered by the clamours of the 

 lapwing." 



f "Avis enim est spurcissima et immunda." Glantvilla de rerum proprieta- 

 tibus. See also Aristotle Hist. Anim., Boole ix. cap. 15. 



J " De hec ave dicunt Physici, quod cum senuerit, eo quod nee videre nee volare 

 queat, pulli eius evellunt ei pennas invalidas, et liniunt ei oculos herbarum succis et 

 fovent sub alis, donee recrescant plumse eius, et sic renovata perfecte volet et videat 

 clare sicut et ipsi." Ibid. Vide also De proprietatibus Rerum : by Bartholomacs : 

 A.D. 1582. 



Lapwings. " Wipa" is still the Swedish name for these birds. 



