372 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
MaxweUtown there were congregated "at least 50,000 birds 
whose murmurmgs were audible three hundred ya^^^^^ 
awav "* Lapwings escaped the severe winter of 1878-1879, 
frthey lef?Dumfriesshire at the end of November, and 
did not return tiU the beginning of March ; a phenomenon 
Mr R Service had never previously met with j 
eSs may be found in the last week of March, and are 
eage'rS s'^ht for, often by -desirables. 
the neriod of laying is much retarded, as m 1892 wnen 
ttese bSs wer^ recorded as laying in June owing to 
fXourable dry cold weather at t^e pr^P^ 
In 1866 eggs fetched a penny a piece m Dumfries and 
were despatched to the large towns chiefly to the 
Metropohs.§ This trade «tiU-ntinues,andtheamounto^^^^^^^^^^^ 
sold in 1888 can be judged from an entry m Mr. R. Serv ce s 
d°ary which notes: "John Kennedy teUs me a nend 
o his this season picked up on the Blackshaw lojus 
:L W in one day, forty-eight do.en Lapw^^^^^^^ 
H Seebohm gives the measurements of the eggs as irom 
?2 0 to by 1-4 to l-28inch,"|l but they are liable to 
xnuch variatio/and a specimen in -y P^—^f^^^^* 
Low Lann (Tynron) on May 14th, 1903, J^-rf^^™" 
1-25 inch After April 15th, as above stated, it becomes 
11 Li foiake the eggs; but the harrowmg and rolhng of 
SdltLttS place at this time, de^roys ma^^^ 
nests The birds have also other enemies than man, and 
Rols and Crows are perhaps the -st. Thoug, a a 
Lapwings can keep off one or even two Rooks, they cannot 
keTSree ; f or'while they are engaged m '-"^ j 
the thieves, a third is profiting by the absence of the owners 
of the nest A dog, a Pheasant, or a Partridge commg too 
?ea?irswooped a't and buffeted with their wings, and at 
. ^«». Seofc Jfo«. HMfc, 1903, p. 198. 
t Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Olaeg., 1879, Vol. IV., p. 169. 
I Zoologist, September, 1892, pp. 333, 334. 
§ Dumfries Courier, May 8th, 1866. 
II Eggs oj British Birds, 1895, p. 127. 
