305 

 THE LAPWING. 



WE have never seen the lapwing playing its singular 

 evolutions in the air, or even sitting sagacious on a 

 stone, or tripping lightly among the grass and heath, 

 without being impressed with the belief that it is the 

 most beautiful bird that this country produces : we 

 say, " produces," because, though it be a migratory 

 bird, it first finds its being upon our moors, and its 

 migrations seldom extend out of the country. Many 

 birds have more gaudy plumage, and a few may have 

 more graceful forms ; but taking the two combined, 

 we can recollect none that we ever so much admired, 

 as the lapwing. Then it has evidently more mind 

 more speculation in it than belongs to the majority of 

 birds. Without being at all disposed to eat what it 

 kills, it fights with the greatest bravery. The hooded 

 or carrion crow, whose shapeless carcass and dull 

 hue render him deserving of even a worse 'name, flies 

 2 D 3 



