52 The Peewit. 



height on untiring wing; then down again, running along the 

 ground, and leaping about from spot to spot as if for very 

 amusement. 



It is, however, with all its agility, a very untidy nest-maker ; 

 in fact it makes no better nest than a few dry bents scraped 

 together in a shallow hole, like a rude saucer or dish, in which 

 she can lay her eggs — always four in number. But though 

 taking so little trouble about her nest, she is always careful to 

 lay the narrow ends of her eggs in the centre, as is shown in 

 the picture, though as yet there are but three. A fourth, how- 

 ever, will soon come to complete the cross-like figure, after 

 which she will begin to sit. 



These eggs, under the name of plovers' eggs, are in great 

 request as luxuries for the breakfast-table, and it may be 

 thought that laid thus openly on the bare earth they are very 

 easily found. It is not so, however, for they look so much like 

 the ground itself, so like little bits of moorland earth or old 

 sea-side stone, that it is difficult to distinguish them. But in 

 proportion as the bird makes so insufficient and unguarded a 

 nest, so all the greater is the anxiety, both of herself and her 

 mate, about the eggs. Hence, whilst she is sitting, he exer- 

 cises all kinds of little arts to entice away every intruder from 

 the nest, wheeling round and round in the air near him, so as 

 to fix his attention, screaming mournfully his incessant pee-wit 

 till he has drawn him ever further and further from the point of 

 his anxiety and love. 



The little quartette brood, which are covered with down 

 when hatched, begin to run almost as soon as they leave the 

 shell, and then the poor mother-bird has to exercise all her little 



