Birds by Land and Sea 



expectant, not to say disappointed. The screech- 

 owl imitates this peculiarity to perfection, and must 

 assuredly some day rank as an unconscious humorist. 

 In the mean time, if any hardy theorist is in search of 



a hitherto unused example of protective mimicry 



But I will commit myself no farther than by the 

 hint. 



As the wheatear is wholly a stranger in our parts 

 except as a passenger at times of migration, the 

 appearance of one of these birds in our fields on the 

 2oth of August must be taken as the first indication of 

 their shifting from the hills to the plains preparatory 

 to their departure a month hence. 



Lapwings also appeared in large companies in the 

 fields at the beginning of the month. They affect 

 particularly rolling ground, and congregate on the 

 grassy ridges. As the sun sinks, they face it ; and, 

 seen from the sun side, present the aspect of an 

 assembly of gulls, their white breasts being turned 

 uniformly in that direction. 



He who has not seen the massed lapwings at 

 this time perform their winged march around their 

 sleeping-fields, has yet a pleasure to know. Deploy- 

 ing in a long thin line, and with uniformly beating 

 wings, they circle round, now a band of dark backs 

 and wings as they rise on a low curve against the 

 evening sky, now a flash of white as they dip and 

 skim the black earth, their underparts exposed to 

 view. Round and round they go without a sound 

 over the still land a silent, solemn delight of 



V -276 



