Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/179

Rh reiterating, with piercing emphasis, that mysterious taunt, "Did you do it? Did you do it? Pity to do it." What does the creature mean? I have done nothing. Suddenly its mate springs into visibility and joins it. I have a suspicion, a strong suspicion, that somewhere on the ground, not far from my feet, there are four stone-coloured eggs, with black blotches on them and like pegtops in shape, arranged in a cross with their points inwards. But it is no use looking for them. The Lapwing is such an accomplished liar that it will throw you off the scent one way or another. The poet has said it,

It is altogether a wonderful character. It seems to do without food and sleep. As regards food, you never find it where there is anything to eat, and as regards sleep, the natives have a saying that it sleeps on its back with its legs turned up, for it says, "If the sky should fall, I will catch it on my feet;" but I suspect the chief point of this saying is that it cannot be contradicted, for nobody ever caught a Lapwing asleep.

There is another kind of Lapwing, with yellow instead of red wattles on its cheeks. Otherwise it is very like the common one, but somewhat paler in colour and with less black on it. There is a syllable less in its cry. It, however, likes a dry climate, and I have not often seen it on the coast.

The Grey Plover and the Golden Plover are small compact birds with very large eyes, quite different in their aspect from the Lapwing. They are found all over India in the cold season and wander a great