116 CHARAD11IID.E. 



the pewit ought certainly to be included. The gizzard of one 

 which I examined last spring was completely crammed with the 

 destructive wire-worm."* 



There is not, that I am aware, any migration of the lapwing to 

 or from the north of Ireland. During the most severe frost, as 

 well as at other times, the ebbing tide leaves behind for them, 

 abundant food in our bays and estuaries.f It would appear to -be 

 otherwise in England ; as Mr. Selby, writing from Northumber- 

 land, remarks : — " Here they chiefly frequent the fallow grounds 

 and turnip fields, remaining till November, or even later, should 

 the weather continue mild or open; but in case of severe 

 frost most of them retire, and pass the winter farther to the 

 southward, (vol. ii. p. 222). Sir William Jardine, too, whose 

 observations have been chiefly made in Dumfries -shire, states, that 

 " Some pewits reside constantly with us ; but at the same time 

 numbers leave our islands, and others annually perform a periodi- 

 cal migration to the breeding grounds, arriving there with as much 

 regularity as our summer visitants from a distance; also it is 

 probable that we receive a few birds in their removal from other 

 countries," (Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 282). With respect to Moray- 

 shire, Mr. St. John remarks : — "Though the pewits generally 

 leave us early in October, a flock is sometimes seen at the end 

 of the month." J Capt. Eayrer, R.N., who for several years com- 

 manded one of the mail steam packets plying between Portpatrick 

 and Donaghadee, has informed me, that when crossing the 

 channel in autumn he had seen flocks of lapwings flying from, as 

 well as to, Ireland. 



In Holland only (a country admirably suited to it), and in the 

 low marshy districts bordering the Rhone and the Rhine, have 

 I — on the continent of Europe — remarked this bird to be as 

 plentiful as in Ireland. 



* Zoologist, March 1848, p. 2023. 



f I have remarked them standing, during intense frost, with their legs wholly 

 immersed in the tide. 



£ Tour in Sutherland, vol. ii. p. 9. 



