The lapwings begin to nest at the end of March on heaths and waste lands, and in meadows, pastures, and fallows. As a rule, more than one pair, and often several pairs, have their nests near each other; and so gregarious are the birds at all times, that even during incubation, and when the young are out, they are to be seen associating together when feeding, and when indulging in their sportive exercises in the air. A slight depression in the soil, with a few dried grass-stems for lining, serves for nest, and the eggs are four in number, olive-green, thickly mottled with black and blackish brown spots. False nests are often found near the nest containing eggs, and these are said to be formed by the male in turning round and round when showing off to his mate.
The lapwing is common throughout the year, but in autumn, when they congregate, often in flocks of many hundreds, and even thousands, there is a very general movement; and no doubt at this season a large proportion of the birds that breed with us leave the country, their places being taken by others from more northern regions. Throughout the British Islands it is a fairly common species, but it is believed that for many years past the lapwing has been decreasing in numbers, chiefly on account of the demand for plovers’ eggs, and of unrestricted egging.
Turnstone.
Strepsilus interpres.
Fig. 99.—Turnstone. ⅕ natural size.
Head, neck, breast, and shoulders variegated with black and white; upper surface black and chestnut-red; rump white; tail-feathers and a patch on the coverts dark brown; under parts white; legs and feet orange. Female: not so bright. Length, nine inches.
The turnstone is very nearly of a size with the song-thrush, although its conspicuous black-and-white and curiously marked plumage causes it to appear much bigger to the eye. The plumage is very handsome, the upper parts being mottled with black and red—a tortoiseshell colouring which is rare in birds. It is a visitor to our coasts after the breeding season, the young birds arriving towards the end of July, the adults following in August, after the moult. From the east coast of England most of the birds depart in autumn; on the south and west coasts many remain all winter. The return migration to the breeding-grounds in the arctic regions takes place about the middle of May; but it is believed that a few pairs breed annually within the limits of the British Islands, as birds have been observed in summer in full nuptial dress. There are few birds with so wide a distribution as the turnstone, its range extending along the coasts of Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, and the Atlantic and Pacific islands.
The turnstone is a bird of the seashore exclusively, with a partiality for rocky coasts, and feeds on marine insects and small crustaceans, which it picks from the stranded seaweed, and on this account it is called ‘tangle-picker’ on the Norfolk coast. It also turns over the small stones and shells on the sand, to search for insects concealed beneath them; and when the stone is too large to be moved by the bill, the breast is used in pushing. Two or three birds have been observed to unite in pushing over an object too large to be moved by one.