126 HALF-HOURS IN THE GREEN LANES. 



dietary, by resorting to the hedgerows, there to 

 feed on the hips and haws. They are not particular 

 to an occasional turnip, in lieu of any other food ; 

 whilst the herries of the ivy and mountain-ash are 

 also included in their hill of fare. 



On the heath where you found the common lizard 

 basking in the sun, your attention must have been 

 drawn by the circling overhead of a pair of birds, 

 whose plaintive cry was most miserable, and which 

 led you to imagine the nest could not be far off. 

 Perhaps it was not, but you may depend upon it 

 the hubbub grew louder in proportion as the birds 

 drew you away from it. This is a common trick 

 with various species of the feathered tribe. Occa- 

 sionally the birds in question approached so near 

 that you could see their glossy green backs, black 

 breasts, and white underparts, relieved by chestnut 

 tail coverts, and having the head ornamented by a 

 pretty curved crest. It is the Peewit, or Lapwing 

 (Vanellus cristatus), still better known as the 

 " green plover," and its eggs as " plover's eggs." 

 The latter articles, however, in spite of the high 

 price they fetch in the London markets, are very 

 heterogeneous ! You may find the eggs of nearly 

 half a dozen species of birds sold as " plovers' " the 

 most common being those of the black-headed gull. 

 At Scoulton, about ten miles from Norwich, there is 

 a " gullery " which pays well enough to have it 

 protected and cared for, where these gulls annually 

 assemble, and where an average of thirty thousand 



