THE CRESTED LAPWING. 131 



The bill of the lapwing is rather short, compressed for the 

 whole length, thickened at the tip, and though slender rather 

 firm and strong. The feet are slender, and the hinder toes 

 very small ; the middle and outer front toes are united by 

 a membrane at their base. The wings are powerful, and very 

 hollow on their under sides, so that they take hold on the air 

 in almost any position of the bird, thereby enabling it to 

 tumble about in many other postures than most birds. 



These birds are very common in all parts of the country 

 that are adapted to their habits ; and their chief migration is 

 from the shores of the sea to the moors in summer, and from 

 the moors back again to the shores in the letter part of the 

 season. They may, however, be said to disperse themselves 

 rather than to migrate in the summer ; for they breed in all 

 suitable places, from the salt marsh to that part of the moun- 

 tain between the wet and the dry which is their favourite 

 ground in the uplands. Their eggs are four, of a pale greenish 

 olive, with black blotches. They are laid on a place merely 

 scratched like those of the plover, which is usually the next 

 neighbour above, and disposed in the same manner. The 

 young can run as soon as they are out the shell ; but they are 

 not fledged for some time, but remain skulking under the 

 tufts of heath or other herbage. 



Mud-worms are understood to be the principal food of the 

 lapwing in all its localities; and as these hide themselves 

 during the day, the birds have to be at their pastures early 

 in the morning, especially during the breeding time. In the 

 later period of the season, when the earth-worms, which at 

 other times live in their holes apart, come out of these to 

 form their double unions, they remain longer on the surface, 

 and are in better condition than at any other time, so that 

 then the birds find an abundant supply of food ; and as the 

 worms follow the seasons of the waters more than those of 

 the land, they pair and are out earlier towards the hill, and 



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