116 
CHARADRIID^.. 
the pewit ought certainly to be included. The gizzard of one 
which I examined last spring was completely crammed with the 
destructive wire-worm."’^* 
There is not, that I am aware, any migration of the lapwing to 
or from the north of Ireland. During the most severe frost, as 
well as at other times, the ebbing tide leaves behind for them, 
abundant food in our bays and estuaries. t It would appear to be 
otherwise in England ; as Mr. Selby, writing from Northumber- 
land, remarks : — Here they chiefly frequent the fallow grounds 
and turnip fields, remaining till November, or even later, should 
the weather continue mild or open; but in case of severe 
frost most of them retire, and pass the winter farther to tlie 
southward, (vol. ii. p. 222). Sir William Jardine, too, whose 
observations have been chiefly made in Dumfries-shire, states, that 
Some pewits reside constantly with us ; but at the same time 
numbers leave our islands, and others annually perform a periodi- 
cal migration to the breeding grounds, arriving there with as much 
regularity as our summer visitants from a distance; also it is 
probable that we receive a few birds in their removal from other 
countries,^^ (Brit. Birds, vol. hi. p. 282). With respect toMora}^- 
shire, Mr. St. John remarks : — ^‘'Though the pewits generally 
leave us early in October, a flock is sometimes seen at the end 
of the month.’^J Capt. Eayrer, E.N., who for several years com- 
manded one of the mail steam packets plying between Portpatrick 
and Donaghadee, has informed me, that when crossing the 
channel in autumn he had seen flocks of lapwings flying from, as 
well as to, Ireland. 
In Holland only (a country admirably suited to it), and in the 
low marshy districts bordering the Ehone and the Ehine, have 
I — on the continent of Europe — remarked this bird to be as 
plentiful as in Ireland. 
* Zoologist, March 1848, p. 2023. 
t I have remarked them standing, during intense frost, with their legs wholly 
immersed in the tide. 
I Tour in Sutherland, vol. ii. p. 9. 
