S46 THE LAPWING. 



she flies heavily, at a little distance before them, as if maimed ; 

 still vociferous, and still bold, but never offering to move towards 

 the quarter where her young are stationed. The dogs pursue 

 in expectation every moment of seizing the parent, and by this 

 means actually lose the yonng, for the cunning bird having thus 

 drawn them off to a proper distance, exerts her powers, and 

 leaves her astonished pursuers to gaze at the rapidity of her 

 flight. 



There are few readers acquainted in any degree with the 

 country who will not recollect how justly the following lines de- 

 scribe the manners of this bird ; 



Hence, around the head 



Of wand'ring swains, the white- wing'd plover wheels 

 Her sounding flight ; and then directly on, 

 In long excursion, skims the level lawn, 

 To tempt him from her uest. 



The following anecdote exhibits the domestic nature of the 

 lapwing, as well as the art with which it conciliates the regard 

 of animals materially differing from itself, and generally con- 

 sidered as hostile to every species of the feathered tribe. Two 

 lapwings were given to a clergyman, who put them into his 

 garden ; one soon died, but the other continued to pick up such 

 food as the place afforded, till winter deprived it of its usual sup- 

 ply. Necessity soon compelled it to draw nearer the house, by 

 which it gradually became familiarized to occasional interrup- 

 tions from the family. At length one of the servants, when she 

 had occasion to go into the back-kitchen with a light, observed 

 that the lapwing always uttered his cry of " pee-wit" to obtain 

 admittance. He soon grew more familiar : as the winter ad- 

 vanced, he approached as far as the kitchen, but with much cau- 

 tion, as that part of the house was generally occupied by a dog 

 and cat ; whose friendship, however, the lapwing at length con- 



