. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. . THE BIRD LIFE OF THE BRECK DISTRICT. Written and Illustrated with Photographs by Wif. Faeren. PAET II. ENTEB a field where lapwings are nesting, and you will probably be attracted by the somewhat ostentatious flight of several birds as they flap away—they are the males, and they will have given the alarm to the sitting females; the latter you will hardly notice as they go silently away close over the ground until well away from their nests. The ringed plover, and especially the stone-curlew, are still more cautious, and ru
. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. . THE BIRD LIFE OF THE BRECK DISTRICT. Written and Illustrated with Photographs by Wif. Faeren. PAET II. ENTEB a field where lapwings are nesting, and you will probably be attracted by the somewhat ostentatious flight of several birds as they flap away—they are the males, and they will have given the alarm to the sitting females; the latter you will hardly notice as they go silently away close over the ground until well away from their nests. The ringed plover, and especially the stone-curlew, are still more cautious, and run for a considerable distance before taking flight. It is the same when returning; neither species will fly straight to the nest, but alighting some distance off will run towards it, occasionally stopping to glance suspiciously around or make pretence of looking for food, and passing the nest perhaps several times, before, apparently feeling satisfied that they are unobserved, crouching low down, they run rapidly to the eggs, which they inspect carefully, sometimes turning them about with their bills as though lovingly caressing them, and often giving utterance the while to low crooning sounds. Should the lapwing have young all caution is thrown aside; flying to and fro over—sometimes very near—the head of the intruder, screaming their familiar cry of " pee-wit! " while the music of their wing-beats through the air adds considerably to the din, they try their utmost to lure him away from where the young ones— downy balls of dark grey and white fluff—are skulking close to the ground. Should these young ones, and also those of the ringed plover, realise that they are detected, they will run with incredible swiftness, when it is not easy to keep them in sight; then suddenly sink flat on the ground again, where they remain as before until frightened into another run. In contrast to the noisy manifestations of the lapwing, the stone- curlew is quieter even than b
Size: 2433px × 1027px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1902
