I. 



VANELLUS CRISTATUS (meyer). 

 Peewit, Lapwing, &c. 



The Peewit chooses various situations for its eggs : ploughed 

 fields, heaths, commons, and marshy grounds; preferring a 

 molehill, or other slight elevation: they are, however, occa- 

 sionally found enveloped in water. 



Like most of this class of birds, it makes little or no nest, 

 its eggs, four in number, being deposited upon the bare 

 ground, or on a small quantity of dry grass, rushes, stalks of 

 heath, or other plants, in a hole scratched for that purpose, 

 and barely large enough to contain them, though invariably 

 arranged so as to occupy the least possible space, the small 

 ends meeting in the centre. 



I have never succeeded in surprising this bird upon its 

 nest: it is ever on the look out, and, on your first entering a 

 field, is on the wing, whirling about above your head, and 

 endeavouring, by its manoeuvres, to lead you from its nest. 



I have heard its melancholy note long after dark. The 

 eggs are greatly esteemed as a delicacy, and are consequently 

 gathered for the table. The young run soon after they are 

 hatched. 



