THE LAPWING, OR PEEWIT 247 



and courageous office it performs for the Crocodile. This unwieldy 

 monster, having no flexible tongue wherewith to cleanse its mouth, 

 comes on shore after its meals, opens its jaws, and allows the Tro- 

 chilus to enter and pick off the leeches and fragments of food, which, 

 adhering to its teeth, interfere, with its comfort. This story was 

 long believed to be a fable ; but the French naturalist Geoffrey 

 de Saint Hilaire has, in modern times, confirmed the veracity of the 

 father of history, and pronounces the Trochilus of the ancients to 

 be the Pluvier d Collier interrompu, the subject of the present chapter. 

 The Cayman of South America is also said to be indebted for a 

 similar service to the kindly offices of a little bird, which, however, 

 is not a Plover, but a Toddy. 



THE LAPWING, OR PEEWIT 



VANELLUS VULGARIS 



Feathers on the back of the head elongated and curved upwards ; head, crest 

 and breast, glossy black ; throat, sides of the neck, belly and abdomen 

 white ; under tail-coverts yellowish red ; upper plumage dark green 

 with purple reflections ; tail, when expanded, displaying a large semi- 

 circular graduated black patch on a white disk, outer feather on each 

 side wholly white ; bill dusky ; feet reddish brown. Young — throat 

 dull white, mottled with dusky and tinged with red ; upper feathers 

 tipped with dull yellow. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs olive- 

 brown to stone buff, blotched and spotted with dusky black. 



The Peewit, or Green Plover, as it is sometimes called, is among 

 the best known birds indigenous to the British Isles. This 

 notoriety it owes to several causes. The lengthened feathers on 

 the back of its head, forming a crest, at once distinguish it from 

 every other British Wader. Its peculiar flight, consisting of a 

 series of wide slow flappings with its singularly rounded wings, 

 furnishes a character by which it may be recognized at a great 

 distance ; and its strange note, resembling the word ' peweet ' 

 uttered in a high screaming tone, cannot be mistaken for the note 

 of any other bird. In London and other large towns of England 

 its eggs also are well known to most people ; for ' Plovers' eggs ', 

 as they are called, are considered great delicacies. 



Peewits are found in abundance in most parts of Europe and Asia 

 from Ireland to Japan. They are essentially Plovers in all their 

 habits, except, perhaps, that they do not run so rapidly as some 

 others of the tribe. They inhabit the high grounds in open countries, 

 the borders of lakes and marshes and low unenclosed wastes, and 

 may not unfrequently be seen in the large meadows, which in 

 some districts extend from the banks of rivers. They are partially 

 migratory ; hence they may appear at a certain season in some 

 particular spot, and be entirely lost sight of for man> 



