and being saved by bis followers, wbo were directed to the
spot where he lay by the cries of these birds, and their
hovering over him. The notice, howéver, so frequently given
by these birds was sometimes productive of very different
consequences. Mr. Chàtto, in his agreeable Rambles in
Northumberland and the Scottish Border, refers to “ the
persecution to which the Covenanters were exposed in thé
reign of Charles thé Second and his bigoted successor ;”
and, quoting Dr. Leyden, alludes to thé tradition that
M they. were frequently discovered to their pursuers by the
flight and screaming of the Lapwing; in consequence ; of
which the Lapwing is still regarded as an unlucky bird in
the south of Scotland.”
In the autumn they collect in flocks, and from that time
tiU the end of winter are excellent birds for .the table. . For
this purpose they were formerly ‘ mewed l^Foshrooke, Eney.
Antiq. ii. p. 1028), and fattened upon liver, as appears by
an entry in the Household Book of-Squire Kitson, of IJen-
grave,;. Suffolk—printed in Grage’s History of Hengrave,
p. 102 tim-“ 1574,- July. For..4ij liyem-for the puefs and the
other , mewed fowls vj(L” In the Northumberlând House-
hol€ Book ‘Wypes^ (Scandinavian ;Wipa) -are * charged one
penny each. It i s 'probable that the * Egrets! v (French
Aigyeite, a tuft ór crest), to . thè number -of^one thousand,
stated by Leland to have/beem served at' the'often-mentioned
feast on thé enthronization of Archbishop Neyill; belonged
tó this species. A French proverb even' goes scrofamaa
to say-i- *
“ n’a mangé grive a i'vatmeaftp-'*-
v îf’a jamais mangé .bon morceau ; ”
but the Lapwing-is--uét equal to the Golden Plover.
' The Peewit is common and résident throughout the British
Islands ; .Only a partial migration southwards being sob servi
able in-severe weather. ; Owing to enclosure of waste -lands,
drainage and unrestricted,egging, its numbers have consider-,
ably decreased of late years during..the breeding-season in
the eastern counties of England ; butimmense flocks come
óver from the Continent in the autumn, and the spread of
cultivation in Scotland seems rather to have favoured its
increase, especially in Shetland, where it Was formerly a
rare bird. * In Ireland it is very abundant, but Sir B. Payne-
Gallwey states that the eggs are not appreciated or collected
there as they are in England. The birds, however, are
netted in large numbers, and he gives an interesting account
of the mode óf making and setting the net- as practised
in that country, remarking upon the superior wariness of
the Lapwing, which takes alarm far sooner than the Golden
Plove*.*
A rare straggler touGreenland, and only a visitor to the
milder districts of Iceland, and to the Faeroes, the Lapwing
occurs itf Europe up to the vicinity of the Arctic circle. In
Norway and Southern Sweden it becomes tolerably abundant,
although about Jsedren, Mr. Collett says that it has decreased
of Hate, owing to'over-robbery : three to four-thousand eggs
having been shipped in a -year from Egersund. From
Northern Russia, and- the "©Did 'provinces of Hhe'-Baltic, the
Lapwing migrates southwards in winter, but throughout thé
temperate portions of the Continent it is resident, breeding
in suitable localities4-down to th e . extreme south of Spain.
The majority of the eggs" sent to this country in spring
come from Holland and North' Germany, where they- are
systematically gathered up to-a fixed date,-after-which their
taking is prohibited by law. The Lapwing is a winter visitor
to the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and Northern Africa,
a limited number remaining to breed, in Morocco, Algeria,
and Egypt; it is abundant ,in Asia Minor and Palestine
during winter, and dés range-,may be traced along the
Euphrates- valley, and Persia, to Northern India. Severtzoff
states that in Turkestan it breeds up to? an elevation of
10,500 feet, and it roaches across the temperate portions of
Siberia to Mongolia, China, and Japan.
The adult in breeding-plumage has the beak black ; the
irides hazel; forehead, crown, and occiput,-black, forming a
cap h r hood, which ends, behind in a tuft of 'six, 0jj.-seven
* The Poylêï'in Ireland, pp. 183-197.