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LAPWING. — Vaiielltis crhtdius. 



frequency. " Wee-whit ! wee-e whit ! " fills the air, as the birds endeavour to draw away 

 attention from their home ; and the look and cry are so w^eird-like that the observer ceases 

 to wonder at the superstitious dread in which these birds were foryierly held. The 

 French call the Lapwing " Dix-huit," from its cry. 



It is the male bird which thus soars above and around the intruder, the female sitting 

 closely on her eggs until disturbed, when she runs away, tumbling and flapping about as 

 if she had broken her wing, in hopes that the foe may give chase and so miss her eggs. 

 It is certainly very tempting, for she imitates the movements of a wounded bird with 

 marvellous fidelity. 



The eggs of the Lapwing are laid in a little depression in the earth, in which a few 

 grass stalks are loosely pressed. The full number of eggs is four, very large at one end and 

 very sharply pointed at the other, and the bird always arranges them with their small end 

 inwards, so that they present a somewhat cross-lilie shape as they lie in the nest. Their 

 colour is olive, blotched and spotted irregularly with dark blackish brown, and they 

 harmonize so well with the gi'ound on which they are laid that they can hardly be 

 discerned from the surrounding earth at a few yards' distance. Under the title of " Plover's 

 eggs " they are in great request for the table, and are sought by persons wdio make a trade 

 of them, and who attain a wonderful expertness at the business. The eggs are generally 

 laid in marshy grounds, heaths, and commons, w^here they are sometimes found by dogs 

 trained for the purpose. They are, however, often placed in cultivated grounds, and I have 

 found numbers in ploughed fields in the months of April and May. At first, the novice 

 may pass over the ground three or four times without finding an egg, and may have the 

 mortification of seeing a more experienced egg-hunter go over the very same ground and 

 fill his bag. After a while, however, the eye becomes accustomed to the business, and the 

 speckled eggs stand out boldly enough against the ground. Even tlie })rotruding ends of 

 the bents and grass stems on which they are laid take the eye, and there are very few eggs 

 that can escape. 



The food of the Lapwing consists almost wholly of grubs, slugs, worms, and insects. It 

 is easily tamed, and is often kept in gardens for the purpose of ridding them of these 



