OF BIRDS. 
249 
Lapwings are found in most parts of Europe, as far 
northward as Iceland. In the winter they are met with 
in Persia and Egypt. Their chief food is worms; and 
sometimes they may be seen in flocks nearly covering 
the low marshy grounds in search of them, which they 
draw with great dexterity from their holes. When the 
bird meets with one of these little clusters of pellets, or 
rolls of earth, that are thrown out by the worm’s perfo- 
ration, it first gently moves the mould from the mouth of 
the hole, then strikes the ground at the side with its 
foot, and steadily and attentively wait the issue: the rep- 
tile, alarmed by the shock, emerges from its retreat, and 
is instantly seized. 
These birds make a great noise with their wings in 
flying, and are called pee-wits, in the north of England, 
from their particular cry. They remain there the whole 
year. The female lays two eggs on the dry ground, 
near some marsh, upon a little bed which she prepares 
of dry grass. These are olive coloured, and spotted 
with black. She sits about three weeks; and the young, 
who are covered with a thick down, are able to run 
within two or three days after they are hatched. 
Long-legged Plover. (PI. 42.) This bird is of the 
plover family, and might with propriety be called the 
stilt plover. It weighs about four ounces. The naked 
part of the thighs measures three inches and a half, and 
the legs about four inches and a half. Hence we may 
safely assert, that these birds exhibit weight for inches, 
and have incomparably the greatest length of legs of any 
known bird. The flamingo, for instance, is one of the 
most long-legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of 
proportion to the himantopus, or loripes, which is the 
name most naturalists give this bird. 
It must be matter of great curiosity, to see the stilt 
plover move; to observe how it can wield such a length 
of lever with such feeble muscles as the thighs seem to 
be furnished with. At best, one should expect it to be 
but a bad walker; but what adds to the wonder is, that 
it has no back toe. Now, without that steady prop to 
support its steps, it must be liable to perpetual vacilla- 
