THE GREY PLOVER. 133 



beats the ground with its feet till the worms feel the shock 

 and come out, escaping from the imagined jaws of the Scylla 

 mole into the real bill of the Charybdis lapwing. Now no 

 bird, from any height to which it can leap without the action 

 of its wings, can, in consequence of the hold which its feathers 

 take of the air, strike the ground with much force even with 

 both its feet ; and the bound of a bird like the lapwing, 

 which weighs barely half a pound, upon one foot, must be 

 light indeed, not one-tenth of the tap which a man could 

 give the ground with his little finger, the other three fingers 

 and the thumb remaining on the ground all the time ; and 

 the earthquake that could be made in that way, would not 

 materially disturb any inhabitant under the surface. The 

 lapwing catches many worms when they are wholly above 

 ground ; others it seizes by the exposed end, and it pinches 

 that with its bill, till the writhing occasioned by the pain 

 works the worm wholly out of its earth ; and instead of 

 alarming the worms with the force and concussion of its 

 tramp, the lapwing treads very lightly even for a bird, and 

 does so, perhaps, that it may not disturb its prey : in the 

 same manner as other animals, whether quadrupeds or birds, 

 that feed upon prey apt to hide itself in holes, are formed 

 for coming upon it stealthily, and without either concussion 

 or noise. 



THE GREY PLOVER, OR GREY LAPWING (Squatarolo, cinereo). 



This bird, which is not very common as a British species, 

 holds a sort of intermediate place between the plovers and 

 the lapwing, partaking a little of the characters of each, and 

 yet not strictly admitting of classification with either. It is 

 not quite so large or so weighty as the lapwing, and not so 

 powerfully winged in proportion to its length and bulk. The 

 lapwing is between thirteen and fourteen inches in length, 

 measures fully two feet and a half in the extent of the wings, 



