THE LAPWING 



blackish brown, paler brown, and ink-grey. These are 

 the eggs sold as delicacies in early spring, but they come 

 from localities where the Lapwing is very much more 

 abundant than it is near London. When the young can 

 fly the birds begin to assemble into flocks for the autumn 

 and winter. 



The adult Lapwing in breeding plumage has the head 

 and neck behind and below the eye almost uniform white ; 

 the head in front of the eye, and reaching downwards 

 to the breast and upwards to the crown (which is decorated 

 with a long bunch of recurved plumes) is black shot with 

 purple and green, but more or less mottled with white 

 on the lores, ear-coverts, and over the eye ; the rest of the 

 upper parts are metallic green, shot with purple on the 

 scapulars and purplish green on the wing-coverts ; 

 the upper tail-coverts are chestnut, the under ones paler ; 

 the wings are black and white ; the tail has the basal 

 portion white, the terminal portion black, with small 

 white tips ; on the outermost feathers the white pre- 

 dominates, gradually decreasing towards the centre 

 The under parts, with the exceptions already noted, 

 are white. Bill black ; tarsi and toes flesh-pink ; irides 

 brown. Length 13 inches. In autumn the throat is 

 more or less uniform white. The young in first plumage 

 have most of the feathers of the upper parts tipped with 

 buff, and the crest is much shorter. The young in down 

 are pale reddish brown spotted and splashed with black, 

 white below, with a dark band across the breast. 



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