60 BRITISH BIRDS. 



colours around that it is next to impossible to find them, as they crouch 

 as if dead in any available nook. 



The eggs of the Lapwing are highly prized as articles of food, and a 

 regular and extensive trade is done in them. Thousands find their way to 

 the London markets in the season, and fetch from four to ten shillings a 

 dozen, according to the abundance of the supply. In the early part of the 

 season much higher prices have been asked. Great numbers of these eggs 

 are imported from the continent, and a large supply is obtained in the 

 marshy districts of the eastern counties, where the Lapwing is one of the 

 commonest of birds. 



As the season advances the Lapwing congregates into large flocks, the 

 young and their parents from one breeding-station join those of another, 

 and at the approach of winter quit their upland haunts and repair to lower 

 grounds, especially those in the neighbourhood of the coast. In autumn 

 nights of continental Lapwings arrive on the eastern coasts, accompanying 

 the Plovers from the north. During winter the Lapwings are constantly 

 changing their ground, and often move before a storm, flying in broad 

 scattered flocks to more favourable districts, returning again when the 

 weather is more settled. Numbers of these birds are often netted in the 

 marshes or shot ; but as articles of food they are much inferior to the 

 Golden Plover. Even when in prime condition the flesh is dark and 

 often accompanied by an unpleasant odour, which renders it far from 

 palatable. 



The male Lapwing in breeding-plumage has the general colour of the 

 upper parts metallic green, shading into reddish purple on the scapulars, 

 and into purplish green on the wing-coverts ; the head and neck behind 

 and below the eye are nearly white ; the head in front of the eye and 

 extending downwards to the breast, and upwards to the crown, which 

 ends in a long crest, is black, with purple and green metallic reflections ; 

 but there are always some white feathers on the lores, the adjoining ear- 

 coverts, and above the eye. The underparts below the breast, axillaries, 

 under secondary coverts, the basal half of the secondaries, and the outer 

 tail-feather on each side and the basal half of the others are white ; the 

 under tail-coverts are buff, and the upper ones are chestnut ; the pri- 

 maries, under primary-coverts, terminal half of secondaries and of the tail- 

 feathers are black ; the three first primaries have broad patches of buffish 

 white near the tips ; and the tail is narrowly tipped with buffish white. Bill 

 black ; legs and feet fleshy red, claws black ; irides dark hazel. The female 

 has less metallic gloss on the feathers, but otherwise scarcely differs from 

 the male except in having a shorter crest, and in having the chin and throat 

 marked with white *. After the autumn moult nearly all the black dis- 



* Some ornithologists, as Macgillivray, Gould, and Saunders, state that the sexes of the 

 Lapwing do not differ in colour ; whilst others, as Jardine, Naurnann, and Dresser, repre- 



