482 
PLOVER GROUP. 
from Britain to Japan, and also occurring on the two sides of the American 
Continent in Alaska and Greenland; while in winter it migrates as far south as 
Northern Africa, Persia, and India. Resident throughout the year in the British 
Islands, in the Arctic regions of Scandinavia and the tundras of Siberia it is but 
a summer visitor. Not only is this bird the most widely distributed member of 
the genus, but the species is probably the one most numerous in individuals, as is 
attested by the enormous number of its eggs which reach the English market 
where they form by far the greater proportion of those sold as plovers’ eggs. 
When associated in their enormous winter flocks, lapwings are among the most 
difficult of birds to approach, more especially from their constant habit of changing 
their ground. When the breeding-place is approached, the old bird, writes Mr. 
Seebolnn, “ glides steadily off* the nest, runs a little distance, then rises in the air 
to flutter restlessly above the intruder’s head, uttering its harsh, wailing cries. 
So closely do the eggs resemble surrounding objects in colour that it is no easy 
task to find them; but the old birds very often betray their whereabouts by 
hovering above them; at these times the birds are easily approached, often coming 
within a few feet. When the young are hatched, they soon follow their parents 
in search of food. If menaced by danger, the old birds quit their offspring at once, 
fly into the air, or reel and tumble along the ground as if wounded, while the 
nestlings scurry off in different directions and hide themselves among the herbage.” 
As an example of a species of this genus we may refer to the Cayenne lapwing 
( V. cayennensis), and its variety the Patagonian lapwing, in which the crest is very 
small. These birds, which are known in the pampas by the name of teru-teru, 
generally live in pairs, and have a curious habit of indulging frequently in a kind 
of dance or march, which is described by Mr. W. H. Hudson. This observer writes 
that anyone watching a pair of these birds, will see an individual from another 
pair rise and fly to them. Advancing to receive their visitor, the pair place them¬ 
selves behind it; “ then all three, keeping step, begin a rapid, uttering, resonant 
drumming note, in time with their movements; the notes of the pair behind being 
emitted in a stream, like a drum-roll, while the leader utters loud single notes at 
regular intervals. The march ceases; the leader elevates his wings and stands 
erect and motionless, still uttering loud notes; while the other two, with puffed-out 
plumage and standing exactly abreast, stoop forward and downward until the tips 
of their beaks touch the ground, and, sinking their rhythmical voices to a murmur, 
remain for some time in this posture. The performance is then over, and the 
visitor goes back to his own ground and mate, to receive a visitor himself later 
on.” For the truthfulness of these observations the present writer can vouch 
from personal experience. On the pampas these lapwings are a perfect nuisance, 
dashing up during the breeding-season almost into the face of the traveller, and 
then suddenly wheeling off with a sudden swoop, at the same time giving vent to 
their harsh and monotonous cry of teru-teru. This extreme boldness, and perfect 
fearlessness of man, is however, as was long ago remarked by Darwin, characteristic 
of most of the birds of the Argentine pampas. 
Three-Toed Of the three-toed lapwings, among which there are some species 
Lapwings. with a wing-spur and others without the same, while the presence 
of a crest is likewise inconstant, we select as the best known example the Egyptian 
