m ï æ i u L i r s c r i s t a t u s
VANELLUS G El STATUS.
Lapwing- or Peewit.
Tringa Vanellus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 248.
Vanellus cristatus, Temm. Man. d’Orn., p. 348.
Gavia, Leach, Syst. C at of Spec, of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 29.
Charadrius Vanellus, Wagl. Syst. Av., Charadrius, sp. 1 . I
I n d e p en d e n t l y o f the British Islands, the Lapwing is found all over the temperate a n d wa rim portions
of Europe, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean; it also inhabits Morocco and Algeria, occurs in
Madeira, and extends its range eastward to Egypt, Syria, Persia, and the Punjab. Moreover we know
that it forms part of the avifauna o f China and J a p a n ; for Mr. Swinhoe informs as it is found from
Shanghai to P ek in ; and the Russian naturalists have observed it at Astracan, in the vicinity of Lake Baikal,
and in Amooriand.
Whatever misdemeanour may be laid at the door o f some of our native birds, the Lapwing, a t least, is
free from-any such charge; for where is there one that is more useful o r less inclined to mischief? No
kind o f depredation can be brought home to it, its .whole existence and economy leading it to frequent
the open wastes, and seldom to trespass upon cultivated districts, unless it be when the land is in fallow
o r occasionally during seed-tiine. Fields o f waving corn and orchards redundant with fruit offer it no
temptation: its province is the upland sheep-walk, the wild moorland, the wet grassy mead, the marsh,
and. the chases o f . olden times ( if any-be left), over which it trips and enlivens their solitude with its
plaintive cry o f pee-urit. Before scientific farming and drainage were in vogue, when the border-lines of
two countries, now happily united, w ere haunted by the moss-trooper, and the neighbouring moors were too
often fields o f blood, it was more abundant than it is now. Happily, associations o f a far different character
ire connected with it, since its justly i
erned eggs rank first among the viands o f the wedding breakfast,
and the festive supper is never conn
Hampshire, the peaty lowlands and sandy warrens of Norfolk
Cambridge-shires, Essex, and Kent, yearly send their q u o ta :
from Holland must be immense, and it is surprising that the bi
pc
in numbers than any other British species, is so plentiful as it still is. Dr. Plomley informed Mr. Yarrcll
th at two hundred dozen eggs were sent from Romney Marsh alone to Dover in 183ft.
Notwithstanding that the enclosure of many of the localities formerly frequented by this bird has greatly
ailed its habitat, it is still plentiful in the more st(
■enerally diffused over the three kingdoms, for it is found far and near in sufficient abundance to
render it common- everywhere: in the west o f Cornwall and on the sea-girt Scilly Isles it is as numerous
in the north of Scotland in summer; its range also extends over the Orkney, the Shetland,
Isles, and it even visits Iceland. Mr. Augustus Smith informed me th at the Lapwing
1 Scilly in severe winters, and was more plentiful in 1862 and 1863 than usual, and that
in winter a
and the W
many then died from starvation.
In its disposition the Lapwing is
dispersed over the country in pairs,
it employs many artifices to draw the
eggs are deposited, in the course o f which it
dipping, and turning with great rapkbvt -
habit o f observation render him more t&m
search readily find the eggs, although they ■
any means o f direction to their site, ( jt»
upon the success attending their long tramp
the Stone-chats, and the W heatears but scan
who often build several nests before detenni
capricious as to the site for the nurture of In
the late Mr. St. John’s * Natural History and
to commence several nests before they deter
seen three or four nests begun all near each o
the nests of different birds. By the time th<
quantity o f straws, roots, or sticks, appear»
ally shy and distrustful, and, except iu summer, when it is
admits o f a very near approach. During the nesting-period
ader away from the part o f the heath o r marsh in which its
l performs many singular and interesting evolutions, tumbling,
still, with all its cunning, man’s reasoning powers and his
a match for the bird, ami those who a re accustomed to the
are deposited in the midst o f the moor, without, apparently,
¡¿efe-eyed, indeed, are the eggers whose daily bread depends
[(« over »he heaths and commons on which live the Lapwings,
■eely a&gut i-’- e. Like the Wren and some other small birds,
lining in which the eggs shall be deposited, the Lapwing is
icr iin c progeny, on which point the following passage from
Spor* in Moray ’ may be appropriately quoted:—Thev “ seem
mime <>»» laying their eggs in any one, as I have frequently
other ; and the Peewits are far too quarrelsome for these to be
r eggs a re laid, they generally collect a considerable
nerease with every egg they lay.” In confirmation of