THE GREEN PLOVER OR LAPWING 
Vanellus cristatus 
Upper plumage dark metallic alternating green and 
purple; a dark crest of upward curling pointed feathers ; 
under plumage white; black chest; orange under tail 
coverts; beak black; legs brown; eyes dark brown. Total 
length, 13 inches, 
Tis is the “ Lapwing” or “ Peewit” of England, 
and is a rarer bird in Egypt than at home. But if 
you look sharp out, you ought to see it at least 
once or twice in a run up the river, in small or 
larger flocks—I do not ever remember to have seen 
it singly. Why I have chosen this bird as one of our 
fifty is, because go where you will, north or south, 
you see the undoubted counterfeit presentment of 
this bird engraven on the walls of all the temples. 
Many see it, but are misled by the rather mad 
armlike-looking thing brandished out in front of 
the bird’s face, and never see the undoubted portrait 
of a Plover till it is actually pointed out. Why 
this bird should have been chosen, and why the 
owl and the vulture should have been selected 
from the great mass of Egypt’s birds, we cannot 
explain, but can only draw attention to the fact, 
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