THE GOLDEN-BREASTED TRUMPETER. 385 
nest, or rather from the eggs, into the air, and continually wheels around the 
intruder, its black and white plumage flashing out as it inclines itself in tts 
flight, and its mournful cry almost fatiguing the ear with its piercing 
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 weird- 
like that the observer ceases to wonder at the superstitious dread in which 
these birds were formerly held. The French call the Lapwing “ Dzx-huzt,” 
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- LAPWING. —(Vanetlus cristatus.) 
like 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 ground 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 who make a trade of them, and who 
attain a wonderful expertness at the business. 
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 destructive creatures. In the garden next our 
own a Lapwing was kept, and lived for some years, tripping featly over the 
grass and thoroughly at home. 
THE GOLDEN-BREASTED TRUMPETER is a handsome bird, remarkable for 
the short velvety feathers of the head and neck, and their beautiful golden 
green lustre on the breast. The body of this bird is hardly larger than that 
of a fowl, but its legs and neck are so long as to give it the aspect of being 
much larger than it really is. Like most birds of similar structure, it trusts 
more to its legs than its wings, and is able to run with great speed and 
activity. It is generally found in the forests. 
The name of Trumpeter is derived from the strange hollow cry which it 
utters without seeming to open the beak. This cry is evidently produced by 
means of the curiously-formed windpipe, which is furnished with two mem- 
branous expansions, and, during the utterance of the cry, puffs out the neck 
very forcibly, just as the rhea does when grunting. The nest of the Trumpeter 
is said to be a hole scratched in the ground at the foot ofa tree, and to contain 
about ten or tweve light green eggs. The head and neck are velvety black, 
and on the breast the feathers become large, and more scale-like, and their 
edges beautifully bedecked with rich shining green, with a purplish gloss in 
some lights and a lustrous golden hue in others. The back is grey, the 
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