NOTES ON THE LAPWING. 
F, STUBBS, 
Oldham. 
Ir is well known that for the first few days of its existence the 
young lapwing closely resembles a fragment of earth or a lump 
of horse dung. Ona bare fallow the bird is quite in harmony 
with its environment, and is well protected. The colours do 
not agree, however, with those of green pasture; but, as it 
cannot be inconspicuous, the young bird finds safety in 
mimicking an unpalatable and common substance. I do not 
think that this instance of interchangeable protective coloura- 
tion has been up to now appreciated by field naturalists, although 
very few observations will show the beautiful arrangement of 
colours necessary for this adaptability to different surroundings. 
As the bird grows bigger, the black and green feathers of the 
adult appear, and destroy the resemblance to horse dung. 
Then the young lapwing enters what may with propriety be 
called the ‘‘cow dung stage”’ of its existence, for everyone 
must have noticed the resemblance of the half-grown (or even 
full-grown, but flightless) young to a portion of a patch of 
vaccine droppings. On the fallows these colours still remain 
in harmony with the bare soil. Perhaps a brood of lapwings 
may be divided between two fields, the one a bare fallow, and 
the other a pasture. In one situation they provide an example 
of pure protective colouration, and in the other an excellent 
instance of mimicry. Early in life they mimic one substance, 
but when they grow out of this livery, they don a coat that 
enables them to mimic another substance dissimilar in appear- 
ance, but equally unattractive to birds or animals of prey. 
We have here a possible explanation of the growing abund- 
ance of the lapwing in all parts of the country. The mere word 
‘* adaptability” does not quite explain the matter. The bird 
is well protected on the pasture lands, and multiplies, so that 
the number of pairs may exceed the number of suitable nesting 
sites. The surplus attempt to breed somewhere, although the 
effort to rear their progeny may bea vain one; but on the fallows 
the birds find that the colours of the eggs and young are well 
fitted to the new and quite dissimilar surroundings. 
The increase of agriculture, the bane of so many wading 
birds, has provided the lapwing with countless nurseries. 
Game-preservation, also, has left this curious bird with little 
Naturalist, 
