THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



have eggs taken as recently as 1907. It also breeds near 

 Edgware. 



During summer the few pairs of Lapwings that breed 

 within the area of Greater London will be found scattered 

 over the grass-meadows and newly sown grain-fields. 

 They cannot readily be overlooked, for as one walks 

 across these places the birds rise and circle in troubled, 

 heavy flight, their peculiar mewing notes of weet-a- 

 ueet, fee-ueet-ueet, and their strongly contrasted colours 

 looking mostly black and white and broad, ample 

 wings rendering identification easy. If not pursued 

 the big birds eventually settle again, dropping down 

 one by one, often with raised wings, which are held 

 open for a moment ere being folded to the body. Upon 

 the ground the bird looks almost mouse-colour and the 

 long crest is easily remarked with a good glass. The bird 

 continues more or less social through the summer and 

 in autumn becomes quite gregarious, assembling into 

 flocks, which wander about in quest of food. It is then 

 that they are chiefly remarked upon the open ground 

 near sewage-farms, market-gardens, marshy commons, 

 and similar spots. The food of the Lapwing consists of 

 worms, snails, insects and larvae in summer ; but in 

 winter small seeds, tender shoots, and a variety of marine 

 creatures are eaten. Much of this food is sought after 

 dusk, an hour at which the bird becomes very noisy, 

 especially during early summer. The Lapwing breeds 

 in April and May ; in very early seasons eggs may be 

 found at the end of March. So far as London is con- 

 cerned the nest is generally made on the open fallows, 

 or amongst growing grain. This nest, if nest it can be 

 called, is a mere hollow in the ground, sometimes the 

 footprint of a horse or cow, in which is scattered, but 

 not always, a few scraps of dry grass or leaves. The 

 four pyriform eggs range from buff to pale olive-blue 

 or green in ground colour, spotted and blotched with 

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