482 PLOVER GROUP. 



from Britain to Japan, and also occurring on the two sides of the American 

 Continent in Alaska and Greenland ; while in winter it migrates as far south as 

 Northern Africa, Persia, and India Resident throughout the year in the British 

 Islands, in the Arctic regions of Scandinavia and the tundras of Siberia it is but 

 a summer visitor. Not only is this bird the most widely distributed member of 

 the genus, but the species is probably the one most numerous in individuals, as is 

 attested by the enormous number of its eggs which reach the English market 

 where they form by far the greater proportion of those sold as plovers' eggs. 

 When associated in their enormous winter flocks, lapwings are among the most 

 difficult of birds to approach, more especially from their constant habit of changing 

 their ground. When the breeding-place is approached, the old bird, writes Mr. 

 Seebohm, " glides steadily off the nest, runs a little distance, then rises in the air 

 to flutter restlessly above the intruder's head, uttering its harsh, wailing cries. 

 So closely do the eggs resemble surrounding objects in colour that it is no easy 

 task to find them; but the old birds very often betray their whereabouts by 

 hovering above them ; at these times the birds are easily approached, often coming 

 within a few feet. When the young are liatched, they soon follow their parents 

 in search of food. If menaced by danger, the old birds quit their offspring at once, 

 fly into the air, or reel and tumble along the ground as if wounded, while the 

 nestlings scurry off in different directions and hide themselves among the herbage." 

 As an example of a species of this genus we may refer to the Cayenne lapwing 

 (F. cayennensis), and its variety the Patagonian lapwing, in which the crest is very 

 small. These birds, which are known in the pampas by the name of teru-teru, 

 generally live in pairs, and have a curious habit of indulging frequently in a kind 

 of dance or march, which is described by Mr. W. H. Hudson. This observer writes 

 that anyone watching a pair of these birds, will see an individual from another 

 pair rise and fly to them. Advancing to receive their visitor, the pair place them- 

 selves behind it ; " then all three, keeping step, begin a rapid, uttering, resonant 

 drumming note, in time with their movements ; the notes of the pair behind being 

 emitted in a stream, like a drum-roll, while the leader utters loud single notes at 

 regular intervals. The march ceases; the leader elevates his wings and stands 

 erect and motionless, still uttering loud notes ; while the other two, with puffed-out 

 plumage and standing exactly abreast, stoop forward and downward until the tips 

 of their beaks touch the ground, and, sinking their rhythmical voices to a murmur, 

 remain for some time in this posture. The performance is then over, and the 

 visitor goes back to his own ground and mate, to receive a visitor himself later 

 on." For the truthfulness of these observations the present writer can vouch 

 from personal experience. On the pampas these lapwings are a perfect nuisance, 

 dashing up during the breeding-season almost into the face of the traveller, and 

 then suddenly wheeling off with a sudden swoop, at the same time giving vent to 

 their harsh and monotonous cry of teru-teru. This extreme boldness, and perfect 

 fearlessness of man, is however, as was long ago remarked by Darwin, characteristic 

 of most of the birds of the Argentine pampas. 



Three-Toed Of the three-toed lapwings, among which there are some species 



Lapwings. y^HYi a .wing-spur and others without the same, while the presence 



of a crest is likewise inconstant, we select as the best known example the Egyptian 



