THE LAPWING, OR GREEN PLOVER 



By BENJAMIN HANLEY 

 "With a Photograph by the Author 



WHEN male blackbirds loudly chal- 

 lenge each other over their choice 

 of a mate, and rooks caw noisily 

 about their nest-repairing, the love-notes 

 of the Lapwings are heard echoing over 

 the fallows, and the birds begin to 

 separate from the flocks in which they 

 have passed the winter to take them- 

 selves off in pairs to choose a suitable 

 nesting site. In this 

 selecting they appear 

 to be in no hurry, for 

 one might watch them 

 standing motionless for 

 minutes at a time, 

 seemingly well content 

 to be simply together. 

 W'hen, however, they 

 do decide upon a likely 

 situation, such as a 

 slight natural depres- 

 sion in the soil or a 

 hob made by the hoof 

 of some animal, the 

 actual nest-building 

 takes up little or no 

 time — a few straws 

 and grasses merely 

 being brought to- 

 gether ; often, indeed, 

 even these are omitted, 

 and the eggs laid f)n 

 the bare ground. 



Four in number, the 

 eggs are ])ear-sliaped, olive green with 

 bhu kish-brown blotches. On some occa- 

 sions there are only three in a clutch, 

 but this is not usual. The young, when 

 hatched, are bcjnny little things, clad in 

 a black and buff coloured down. They 

 are able to run and feed themselves 

 almost directly, locjking like nothing so 

 much as a bundle of fluff on two stilts. 



As summer merges into aiitumn, both 

 old and young gather into flocks, and. 



later still, their numbers are considerably 

 augmented by immigration from the 

 Continent, until the flocks begin to assume 

 gigantic proportions. In some districts, 

 during the winter months, it s a daily 

 occurrence to see flocks composed of 

 between five and six thousand birds. 

 They are hardly ever still, running up 

 and down the furrows in search of food. 



THE LAPWING. 



vSeen from a distance they appear black 

 and whiti'. but when viewed at close 

 quarters it will be seen that above they 

 are metalHc green with purple reflections ; 

 crown and crest blackish green, throat 

 and up]vr breast l)luish black, under tail 

 coverts tawny. In summer the face is 

 blackish and white, but in winter it 

 presents a mottled appearance. This is 

 more pronounced in the case of liirds of 

 the vcar. 



Si6 



