262 
The Animal-Lore of Shakspeares Time. 
Other names for this bird are the Norfolk plover or thick- 
kneed bustard. 
The green plover, lapwing, tyrwhit, or peewit is often 
referred to, chiefly on account of its peculiar appearance, 
monotonous wail, and from its habit of attempting to 
divert the attention of passers-by from its nest by plain¬ 
tive cries. Mr. t Harting has given several quotations 
illustrating this peculiarity, to which may be added an 
extract from Chester:— 
“ The lapwing hath a piteous mournefull cry, 
And sings a sorrowfull and heavy song, 
But yet sheets full of craft and subtility, 
And weepeth most being farthest from her yong : 
In elder age she serv’d for soothsayers, 
And was a prophetesse to the augurers.” 
{Love's Martyr, p. 119.) 
Olaus Magnus writes an account of this plover, to* 
which he also gives the name of the whonp:— 
“ Lapwings,'when at a set-time they come to the northern countries- 
from other parts, they fore-shew the nearnesse of the spring coming on.. 
It is a bird that is full of crying and lamenting to preserve her eggs, or 
young. By importunate crying she shews that foxes lye hid in the* 
grasse ; and so she cries out in all places, to drive away dogs, and other 
beasts. Made tame, she will cleanse a house of flyes, and catch mice.. 
She foreshows rain when she cries.” (Page 205.) 
As a delicacy for the table, the peewit seems to have- 
been highly prized, and its name often occurs in the 
household accounts of this period. 
The note of every variety of plover is a shrill, human¬ 
like whistle. In his English Folk-lore, 1878 (p. 95),. Mr.. 
Dyer informs us that— 
“ there is a Lancashire superstition which identifies the plover with the- 
transmuted soul of a Jew. When seven of them are seen together, 
they are called the 4 seven whistlers,’ and their sound, it is said, foretells, 
misfortune to those who hear it. A correspondent of Notes and Queries; 
thus alludes to this odd piece of superstition: c One evening a few years 
