362 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



omission is easily explained by the wild character which the north 

 of the Lake district presented in the seventeenth century. Even 

 in our own day this bird is less abundant upon the most desolate 

 moors of Scotland than where there are green straths or culti- 

 vated areas. Similarly, there is every reason to suppose that 

 the quantity of land which was drained or brought under the 

 plough of the Lakeland farmer during the earlier half of this 

 century was correlated with a multiplication of the numbers of 

 this Plover. But we find it mentioned under the three titles 

 of * lapwings,' ' puetts,' and ' greene plovers,' in the Naworth 

 books. In 1612 there is an entry between May 30th and June 

 6 th: 'iij poutes and ij lapwings, vi d .' ; the bird is also men- 

 tioned as ' puetts ' | Peewit] on the 1 5th of June that year : — 

 1 Sr George Dawlston's man bringing 20 puetts, ii s vj d .' In 

 1621 we have an entry between October 27th and November 

 3rd: ' To Mathew Dallton for 22 green plovers, ii s ix d .' Pro- 

 bably many of the references to ' plovers ' refer to this species. 

 From the lower ranges of our eastern fell lands to the salt 

 marshes of the Solway and the flat meadows round Morecambe 

 Bay, this Plover is a common breeding-bird, though, owing to 

 the quantity of eggs gathered for distant markets, it is on the 

 decrease in many places. 



Cooper, Lord Hothfield's head keeper on the Appleby estates, 

 tells me that for a number of years he has always been able to 

 collect five or six dozens of Peewit eggs to send to his employer 

 by the 2d or 3d of April, which proves that even in a district 

 swept by the Helm wind a fair number of eggs are laid before 

 the end of March. Wherever one goes during the spring 

 months, one is certain to meet with this Plover on the ploughed 

 fields which slope slowly to the precipices at Sandwith, no less 

 surely than upon the rushy grazing-lands of Bewcastle, or the 

 flat mosses of the interior of Lakeland ; but nowhere else have I 

 seen as many nests as on our salt marshes. Considering the 

 systematic destruction of many eggs by those who sell them to 

 dealers, and the percentage destroyed by high tides, the perti- 

 nacity with which these birds adhere to their favourite breeding- 

 grounds is remarkable. The prettiest nest that we have seen 

 on Rockliffe marsh, examined June 18th, 1889, was built of fresh 



