LAPWING. 



289 



It lays invariably four eggs on the bare ground ; these are of an 

 olivaceous brown, blotched with black, and, what is remarkable, the 

 eggs are always placed in a quadrangular manner, touching each other 

 at the smaller ends, by which they occupy the least possible space. This 

 is common to all the sandpiper, plover, and snipe genus hitherto noticed, 

 the eggs of which are commonly four, much tapering to the smaller end. 



The young make use of their legs as soon as they are hatched, but 

 are not capable of flying till nearly full grown ; they are led by the 

 parent birds in search of food, but are not fed by them. At this time 

 the old birds use every art to entice an intruder from their young; they 

 will strike at a dog, and then nutter along the ground as if wounded, 

 to entice him from the place where the young are concealed, and are 

 very clamorous. 



In the autumn these birds congregate into large flocks, and frequent 

 marshy places. At this time they are esteemed not unsavoury food ; 

 the eggs are also considered as a delicacy, and are frequently brought 

 to the markets of London for sale, under the name of plover's eggs. 

 Its principal food is worms, slugs, and various insects ; when partly 

 domesticated and kept in gardens, it will eat bread or meat. It runs 

 fast, and has a singular motion with the head, frequently putting its bill 

 to the ground without picking any thing up. 



* It is stated by Dr. Anderson, in his Bee, that the Lapwing seems 

 to be aware of the instinctive fear in the earthworm, (Lumbricus gigas, 

 Duges,) of subterranean concussions and noises ; and when it cannot 

 find sufficiency of live prey above ground, it pats with its feet till the 

 earthworms, mistaking it for an advancing mole, come forth to be 

 feasted upon. 1 



An interesting anecdote is related by M. Antoine, of a Lapwing, 

 which a clergyman kept in his garden. It lived chiefly upon insects, 

 but as the winter drew on these failed, and necessity compelled the poor 

 bird to approach the house, from which it had previously remained at 

 a wary distance; and a servant, hearing its feeble cry, as if it were asking- 

 charity, opened for it the door of the back kitchen. It did not venture far 

 at first, but it became daily more familiar and emboldened, as the cold 

 increased, till at length it actually entered the kitchen, though already 

 occupied by a dog and a cat. By degrees it at length came to so good an 

 understanding with these animals, that it entered regularly at nightfall, 

 and established itself at the chimney corner, where it remained snugly 

 beside them for the night : but as soon as the warmth of spring 



1 J. Rennie on Mistakes of Instinct, Mag. of Nat. Hist. i. p. 374. 



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