Nests and Eggs of Familiar British Birds, Second Series / Described and Illustrated; with an Account of the Haunts and Habits of the Feathered Architects, and their Times and Modes of Building

by H. G. Adams

RINGED PLOVER.
RING, OR STONE PLOVER. RINGED DOTTEREL. SAND LARK, OR LAVROCK. DULL-WILLY. SANDY-LOO.
FIGURE 34.

Charadrius hiaticula is the scientific name of this species; we have already confessed our ignorance of the meaning of the first term; according to the old naturalist Pliny, it is "a bird the seeing of which cures those that have the jaundice;" but we must say that we are extremely doubtful if the sight of any bird included by modern naturalists in the genus Charadrius would have such a wonderful effect. The Latin dictionary tells us that the term comes from the Greek, and that one of its meanings is terræ fissura, which we may translate furrowed earth; so that the name may have reference to the bird's real or supposed habit of haunting the furrows of the ploughed field, or the rough uneven ground of rocky shores or barren places. With regard to the specific name hiaticula, we have something very like it in English—hiatus, a break, an aperture, or opening; the Latin word from which it comes is precisely similar. Why applied to this bird cannot tell, except it be from its being chiefly found on broken and uneven ground.

The Ring Plover, or Dotterel, is altogether a shore bird, and may be found on most parts of the British coast, and along the margins of the creeks, estuaries, and tidal rivers, and sometimes by the inland lakes and ponds. It is a bright lively creature, with party-coloured plumage of black, brown, and white. It plays about on the sands, following the retiring tide, and fleeing before its advance, as we see children do; its silky feathers ruffled by the wind, and its shrill clear whistle making pleasant music amid the rocks, and over the wide wild ocean scenery. Its eggs are laid in some slight natural hollow in the sand or small gravel, sheltered by a tuft of reeds or coarse herbage, sometimes just above high-water mark, but frequently in the marshy grounds further inland; they are four in number, of a greenish grey, buff, or cream-colour, spotted and streaked with grey and black, or dark brown.

These birds generally pair in May; the male and female both sit on the eggs, and are very careful of them and the young. Their general food is worms, marine and other aquatic insects, shrimps, and small crustaceous animals. On moonlight nights they may be seen searching diligently with quick and incessant movements, their white plumes flashing here and there like silver.

LAPWING.
COMMON, CRESTED, OR, GREEN LAPWING. GREEN PLOVER. LAPWING SANDPIPER. PEWIT. TEWIT. TEACHET. PEESE-WEEP. FRENCH PIGEON.
FIGURE 35.

Vanellus cristatus is the scientific name of this beautiful bird; the first term may perhaps come from vannus—a fan, and be given to it on account of the graceful fan-like motion of its glossy green pinions, as it skims along the shore, or over the wide heaths, or low-lying marshes, which it most frequents; the specific name means crested, and has reference to the crest of long black feathers which adorn the head, and can be raised nearly straight up or depressed at pleasure. We have called this a beautiful bird, and truly so it is, with bronzy green and coppery reflections playing over its black back, breast, throat, wings, top of the head, and end of the tail; the breast, back, and sides of the neck are pure white, as is part of the tail, and a long patch on each side of the head; the legs, belly, and under side of the tail, are all bright orange colour; and then its long shining crest gives it such a pert and comical air, that it is quite a pleasure to behold.

Lapwings, or Peewits, as they are more generally called, from their shrill cry, which sounds like the syllables pe-wit, or pees-wit, are tolerably familiar birds with us, being found in summer on most wet heaths, moors, and marshy pastures. It nestles in April, and lays its four eggs, which, in general, are of a dull green colour, blotted and irregularly marked with brownish black, in April. A slight depression in the ground, with perhaps a few straws for lining, suffices for a nest; it is sometimes placed amid a tuft of rushes or long grass. Being considered delicate food they are eagerly sought for, and great numbers are every year taken and exposed for sale in the poulterers' shops in London and elsewhere.

The Lapwing feeds on worms and insects, runs with great speed, and has a quick flight, although the flapping of its wings is heavier and more measured than that of the Plovers.

TURNSTONE.
COMMON, OR COLLARED TURNSTONE. HEBRIDAL SANDPIPER.
FIGURE 36.

This is a very remarkable bird with regard to personal appearance, having a variegated dress of black, white, and brownish red, with little fading or running off into the other, so that the colours are strongly contrasted; it has a tolerably heavy body, a strong stout bill of moderate length, and longish thick legs, which are of a dull orange colour, the toes terminating in strong black claws, very useful in what appears to be the chief occupation of the bird, namely, turning up the stones and pieces of rock on the shore, in search of the sea-worms and small shell-fish which lurk beneath; farther inland it searches in the same way for beetles and other insects; hence its common name Turnstone, and Collared Turnstone, from the distinct white mark which passes over the neck and down each side of the breast, until it nearly meets beneath. In the Hebrides we find that it is called a Sandpiper, because it closely resembles, in habits and general conformation, some of the birds which belong to the Tringa, or Sandpiper genus, of which there are several species in this country.