520 
THE LAPWING, OR PEEWIT. 
the look and cry are so weird-like that the observer ceases to wonder at the superstitions dread 
in which these birds were formerly held. The French call the Lapwing “ Dix-huit,” from 
its cry. 
It is the male bird which thus soars above and around the intruder, the female sitting 
closely on her eggs until disturbed, when she runs away, tumbling and flapping about as if she 
had broken her wing, in hopes that the foe may give chase and so miss her eggs. It is cer- 
tainly very tempting, for she imitates the movements of a wounded bird with marvellous 
fidelity. 
The eggs of the Lapwing are laid in a little depression in the earth, in which a few grass 
stalks are loosely pressed. The full number of eggs is four, very large at one end and very 
sharply pointed at the other, and the bird always arranges them with their small end inwards, 
LAPWING . — Yandlus cristatus. 
so that they present a somewhat cross-like shape as they lie in the nest. Their color is olive, 
blotched and spotted irregularly with dark blackish-brown, and they harmonize so well with 
the ground on which they are laid that they can hardly be discerned from the surrounding 
earth at a few yards’ distance. Under the title of “Plover’s eggs” they are in great request 
for the table, and are sought by persons who make a trade of them, and who attain a won- 
derful expertness at the business. The eggs are generally laid in marshy grounds, heaths, and 
commons, where they are sometimes found by dogs trained for the purpose. They are, how- 
ever, often placed in cultivated grounds, and I have found numbers in ploughed fields in the 
months of April and May. At first, the novice may pass over the ground three or four times 
without finding an egg, and may have the mortification of seeing a more experienced egg- 
hunter go over the very same ground and fill his bag. After a while, however, the eye becomes 
accustomed to the business, and the speckled eggs stand out boldly enough against the ground. 
Even the protruding ends of the bents and grass stems on which they are laid take the eye, 
and there are very few eggs that can escape. 
