312 THE LAPWING. 



weeks, are able to run about a day or two after they 

 leave the egg ; but they are unable to take the wing 

 till they be nearly full-grown, so that the period of 

 nursing and watching is longer than that to which some 

 other birds are subjected. This protracted maternal 

 care answers very well with the lapwing, which finds 

 its food in the greatest abundance in the latter part of 

 the summer, when the young birds have increased the 

 flock. When the frost begins to set in, the lapwings 

 collect in flocks, and betake themselves to the marshes 

 and brooks of the low parts of the country, or to the 

 shores of the sea, which are the common resource of 

 all birds that live upon insects, when the severity of 

 the frost prevents them from obtaining any upon the 

 land. 



From the number of birds that inhabit the moors, 

 or resort to them for the purpose of nidification, they 

 become the haunts of many ravenous birds, as these 

 can there carry on their hunting with less chance of 

 interruption than in the woods or inhabited places. 

 There are not many of these spoilers that actually breed 

 in the open uplands, as birds of prey usually make 

 their nests in places that are not easily accessible ; but 

 as they are birds of powerful wing, they make hunting 

 excursions over the open heights. All of these are 

 formidable to the smaller birds, as well as to the young 

 of the larger, and of hares and rabbits, though these 

 last are by no means common on elevated plains ; but 

 almost the only one which is a match for the lapwing 

 in fair combat in the air, is 



