134 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



distance before it rises, with the intention of leading the 

 intruder from the proximity of its nest. They then fly 

 around, uttering their cry of " peewit/' watching if mis- 

 fortune happen to their nest. From this reason it is some- 

 what more easy to discover their nesting-place, if people 

 have watched their habits minutely. They will also feign 

 to be wounded, and will flutter along as if with a broken 

 wing. 



The young run directly they are hatched, but upon the 

 approach of danger will squat still until the parent bird 

 has lured the intruder away. 



The flight of the Lapwing may have given rise to its 

 name, as they fly heavily, though at times at a considerable 

 height, and with a dull, heavy flapping of the wings. 



The Lapwing is a common bird, and may be generally 

 found to frequent open places, such as heaths, commons, 

 marshy grounds, and fallow lands, sometimes affecting 

 those that have been drained, frequenting the sides of the 

 drains, in search possibly of food, and also the fields that 

 have been undrained and neglected. 



In consequence of the demand for Plovers' eggs, the 

 fields and places that they frequent are hunted over, as it 

 were, by those engaged in the trade, the eggs collected and 

 forwarded to their destination, in spite of the efforts of the 

 birds to lure the intruders from detection of their nests. 



The nest is generally but a small structure, made of 

 a few bits of grass, heath, or rushes ; and at times no nest 

 is attempted, but the eggs are laid in a slight depression 

 of the ground, either upon a heath or common or in fallow 

 land. 



The eggs are usually four in number, of a deep olive- 

 green colour, blotted and spotted in an irregular manner 



