separate
from each other, so as to have a better chance of finding a nest. Soon
we hear a shout from Willy, whose sharp eyes had discovered a nest
with four eggs in it; so off we all scamper to him. See how the old
bird screams and flaps, and how near she comes to us; she knows we
have found her eggs, and wishes to lure us away from the spot; so she
pretends she has been wounded, and tries to make us follow after her.
Now, Jack, run and catch her. Hah! Hah! There they go. I will back the
peewit against the boy. So you have given up the chase, have you?
Well, rest again, and take breath. The peewit, as you saw, makes
scarcely any nest, merely a hollow in the ground, with, perhaps, a few
dried grasses. The peculiar instinct of the peewit in misleading
people as to the whereabouts of its eggs, or young ones, is very
curious.

[Illustration: LAPWING.]

A very observant naturalist says, "As soon as any one appears in the
fields where the nest is, the bird runs quietly and rapidly in a
stooping posture to some distance from it, and then rises with loud
cries and appearance of alarm, as if her nest was immediately below
the spot she rose from. When the young ones are hatched, too, the
place to look for them is, _not_ where the parent birds are screaming
and fluttering about, but at some little distance from it. As soon as
you actually come to the spot where their young are, the old birds
alight on the ground a hundred yards or so from you, watching your
movements. If, however, you pick up one of the young ones, both male
and female immediately throw off all disguise, and come wheeling and
screaming around your head, as if about to fly in your face." Peewits
are certainly bold birds when their young ones are in danger. Mr.
Charles St. John says he has often seen the hooded crows hunting the
fields frequented by the peewits, as regularly as a pointer, flying a
few yards above the ground, and searching for the eggs. The cunning
crow always selects the time when the old birds are away on the shore.
As soon as he is perceived, however, the peewits all combine in
chasing him away. We are told that they will also attack any bird of
prey that ventures near their breeding ground; they are quarrelsome,
too, and the cock birds will fight with each other should they come
into too close quarters. A cock bird one day attacked a wounded male
bird which came near his nest; the pugnacious little fellow ran up to
the intruder, and taking ad