ill
PEEWIT.
(Wl'IAin TR ATTt, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH.
PR-WIT. Tr-WIT. LAPWING. COMMON LAPWING. CRESTED LAPWING.
GRKEN LAPWING. GREEN PLOVER. LAPWING SANDPIPER.
FRENCH PIGEON.
Vanellm cris/afus, FLEMING. SELBY.
Tringa vaneUus, PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Vatullus—Quart from Vannus—A fan, from the fanning motion of the
wings? Crislattts—Crested.
T i n s very beautiful bird seems to be spread over the whole of the
European continent, from Iceland and the Ferroe Isles, Kussia,
Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, to Italy, Prussia, Germany, Spain,
Holland, Greece, France, and Sardinia. It also is found in Africa
—in Egypt; and in Asia—in Siberia, China, Japan, and Persia, and
thence to the Black and Caspian Seas, the Lake Baikal and Astrachan.
I t occurs throughout the whole of this country, but least plentifully
in the midland and south-western parts.
I n Cornwall they are not uncommon near Swanpool and Gwyllynvase,
but a flock of seventeen seen near Pennancc, January 17th.,
1850, was considered an unusual number; common in other parts; also
in Devonshire.
'1 hey frequent open places, heaths, commons, marshy grounds, the
sides of drains, fallow and other fields, especially those which have
not been drained. Hitherto the low districts of Essex, Kent, Norfolk,
Cambridgeshire, and Lincolnshire, have furnished the largest supplies
of their e^iis for the London market; but even the last-named county,
once so proverbial for watery wastes, is now fast becoming altogether
drained, and its agriculture has long since been second to none, so
that in time different tenants will, beyond doubt, occupy the soil to
the exclusion of other of a lower class.