Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/269

256 some resemblance to that of a Pigeon. The nostrils are pierced in a long groove.

The colours of the Plovers are not showy, but are chaste and beautiful: various shades of brown, mingled with ochraceous tints, and diversified with white and black, frequently disposed in bands, may be considered as most prevalent among them. The plumage is generally subject to periodical changes; a gayer and more varied dress being assumed for the nuptial season, than that displayed in winter. Many of them are active during the night; they feed on worms, slugs, &c. The species are scattered over the whole globe.

The Lapwings are distinguished by having the beak straight, slightly compressed; the tips of both mandibles smooth and hard; the groove of the nostrils wide, deep, and reaching to the swollen part of the beak; the nostril pierced in the middle of it; the wings ample, more or less rounded; fourth and fifth quills longest; the shoulder armed with a spur; the feet slender, the tarsal plates taking a net-work form; the toes united at the base by a small membrane; a minute hind toe, jointed on the tarsus. They inhabit the Old World; breed inland; associate in flocks, which are very clamorous when their haunts are approached in the breeding season. At the approach of winter they migrate to the seaside, when they appear in a different condition of plumage.

The common Lapwing or Peewit (Vanellus cristatus, ) is one of the most beautiful of the Plovers. In its nuptial plumage, the crown,