AN APOLOGY FOR A NEST. 
445 
volume, and while she tosses and tumbles in the air they often deepen 
into a scream. The further she flies from her nest, and the more 
successful her stratagem appears, the louder does she cry, as if seeking 
to impress upon the mind of the intruder that his course is directed 
towards the spot she wishes him not to discover. Herein lies her 
exceeding skill. But if the nest be really disced upon, she at once 
subsides into silence, as if feeling that further attempt at deception is 
vain, and all is lost. To the lapwing's peculiar habit Tennyson refers : — 
" To come and go, and come again, 
Keturning like the pee\vit. " 
By the way, the same close observer refers to another peculiarity of the 
bird — his change of plumage at spring and autumn : — 
" In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest." 
The lapwing's nest is usually to be found among the coarse rank 
herbage that grows on a moist moorland soil. It consists of a slight 
hollow, or depression, elegantly tapestried with fibrous roots and a few 
straws or bits of stubble. Considerable tact is shown in the choice of 
a locality, so as to insure the safety of the brood. The bird is not one 
of the best of feathered architects, and yet he is clever in his adapta- 
tion of means to an end. At all events, he deserves our notice here, 
from the pains and artifices he and his mate exhibit in their endeavour 
to draw away from it any rash, intrusive steps. 
THE WAGTAIL. 
Very different is the nest constructed by the wagtail, that gay and 
lively bird which might almost be taken as the type of perpetual 
motion. Only while he is singing his sweet but simple song is he at 
rest ; at all other times he flutters incessantly from side to side, or else 
he jerks and wags his tail. Swift is his flight, and easy ; consisting of 
a succession of curves alternately ascending and descending, which form 
a long sinuous line. He feeds upon all kinds of insects, larvfe and 
chrysalids, which he seeks along the running streams, beneath mossy 
stones, in the thatched roof of the old barn, and in the meadows where 
