THE LAPWING. 155 



the young brood are in danger. Indeed, these latter 

 birds, above any others, have need of all the art and 

 cunning they can muster, to save their eggs, which 

 are eagerly sought after in the places where they are 

 known to breed, for the purpose of selling them at 

 a high price, as a luxurious article of food. 



In the Orkney Islands, to the north of Scotland, 

 they were, and possibly still are, allowed to breed 

 unmolested; and their increase is consequently very 

 great. Probably, they were once equally unmolested 

 in every other part of North Britain, which may 

 account for a curious 4-ct of Parliament, said to have 

 been passed many years ago in Scotland, for en- 

 couragement to destroy them as "ungrateful" birds; 

 " for that they came to Scotland to breed, and then ' 

 returned to England with their young, to feed the 

 enemy,"*". Their food consists chiefly of grubs and 

 insects, easily procured in the low mossy grounds 

 which they prefer. Earth-worms, too, form a large 

 portion of their diet, but as their bills are neither 

 so long or so strong as to pierce deep enough into 

 the soil to get at them, they adopt the following 

 clever mode of inducing them to show themselves 

 above ground, when they are instantly seized by 

 the watchful Lapwing. A friend of ours, one day 

 finding a young Plover, carried it home and kept 

 it in a confined place. In addition to its common 

 food, a few square pieces of turf, six or seven 

 inches in thickness, were introduced ; upon these 

 were thrown a number of garden-worms, which 

 buried themselves in the sods as fast as they could. 

 Care was taken to keep them moist by frequent 



* Letters from the North of Scotland, vol. i. 



