|
See also:LAPWING (O.Eng. hledpewince= " one who turns about in See also:running or See also:flight ") ,l a See also:bird, the Tringa vanellus of See also:Linnaeus and the Vanellus vulgaris or V. cristatus of See also:modern ornithologists.
1 See also:Skeat, Etym. See also:Diet. (1898), s.v. See also:Caxton in 1481 has " lapwynches " (Re7nard the See also:Fox, cap. 27). The first See also:part of the word is from nteapan, to leap; the second part is " wink " (O.H.G. winchan, Ger. wan See also:ken, to waver). Popular See also:etymology has given the word its See also:present See also:form, as if it meant " wing-flapper," from " See also:lap," a See also:fold or flap of a garment.
In the temperate parts of the Old See also:World this See also:species is perhaps the most abundant of the plovers, Charadriidae, breeding in almost every suitable See also:place from See also:Ireland to See also:Japan—the See also:majority migrating towards See also:winter to See also:southern countries, as the See also:Punjab, See also:Egypt and See also:Barbary—though in the See also:British Islands some are always found at that See also:season.. As a straggler it has occurred within the See also:Arctic Circle (as on the Varanger See also:Fjord in See also:Norway), as well as in See also:Iceland and even See also:Greenland; while it not unfrequently appears in See also:Madeira and the See also:Azores. Conspicuous as the strongly contrasted See also:colours of its plumage and its very See also:peculiar flight make it, it is remarkable that it maintains its ground when so many of its See also:allies have been almost exterminated, for the lap-wing is the See also:object perhaps of greater persecution than any other See also:European bird that is not a plunderer. Its eggs are the well-known " plovers' eggs " of See also:commerce, and the bird, wary and See also:wild at other times of the See also:year, in the breeding-season becomes easily approachable, and is shot to be sold in the markets for " See also:golden See also:plover." Its growing scarcity in See also:Great See also:Britain was very perceptible until the various acts for the See also:protection of wild birds were passed. It is now abundant and is of service both for the See also:market and to See also:agriculture. What seems to be the See also:secret of the lapwing holding its position is the adaptability of its nature to various kinds of localities. It will find sustenance equally on the driest of soils as on the fattest pastures; upland and fen, arable and moorland, are alike to it, provided only the ground be open enough. The wailing cry2 and the frantic gestures of the See also:cock bird in the breeding-season will tell any passer-by that a See also:nest or brood is near; but, unless he knows how to look for it, nothing See also:save See also:mere See also:chance will enable him to find it. The nest is a slight hollow in the ground, wonderfully inconspicuous even when deepened, as is usually the See also:case, by See also:incubation, and the See also:black-spotted See also:olive eggs (four in number) are almost invisible to the careless or untrained See also:eye. The See also:young when first hatched are clothed with mottled down, so as closely to resemble a See also:- STONE
- STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
- STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
- STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
- STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
- STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
- STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
- STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
- STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)
stone, and to be overlooked as they squat motionless on the approach of danger. At a distance the plumage of the adult appears to be See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
white and black in about equal proportions, the latter predominating above; but on closer examination nearly all the seeming black is found to be a See also:bottle-See also:green gleaming with See also:purple and See also:copper; the tail-coverts, both above and below, are of a See also:bright See also:bay See also:colour, seldom visible in flight. The See also:crest consists of six or eight narrow and elongated feathers, turned slightly upwards at the end, and is usually carried in a See also:horizontal position, extending in the cock beyond the See also:middle of the back; but it is capable of being erected so as to become nearly See also:vertical. Frequenting parts of the open See also:country so very divergent in See also:character, and as remarkable for the peculiarity of its flight as for that of its cry, the lapwing is far more often observed in nearly all parts of the British Islands than any other of the See also:group Limicolae. The peculiarity of its flight seems due to the wide and rounded wings it possesses, the steady and ordinarily
' There is a prevalent belief that many of the eggs sold as " plovers' " are those of rooks, but no notion can be more absurd, since the See also:appearance of the two is wholly unlike. Those of the See also:redshank, of the golden plover (to a small extent), and enormous See also:numbers of those of the black-headed See also:gull, and in certain places of some of the terns are, however, sold as lapwings', having a certain similarity of See also:- SHELL
- SHELL (O. Eng. scell, scyll, cf. Du. sceel, shell, Goth. skalja, tile; the word means originally a thin flake,. cf. Swed. skalja, to peel off; it is allied to " scale " and " skill," from a root meaning to cleave, divide, separate)
shell to the latter, and a difference of flavour only to be detected by a See also:fine See also:palate.
2 This sounds like pee-weet, with some variety of intonation. Hence the names peewit, peaseweep and teuchit, commonly applied in some parts of Britain to this bird—though the first is that by which one of the smaller gulls, Larus ridibundus (see Gunn), is known in the districts it frequents. In See also:Sweden Vipa, in See also:Germany Kiebitz, in See also:- HOLLAND
- HOLLAND, CHARLES (1733–1769)
- HOLLAND, COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF
- HOLLAND, HENRY FOX, 1ST BARON (1705–1774)
- HOLLAND, HENRY RICH, 1ST EARL OF (1S9o-,649)
- HOLLAND, HENRY RICHARD VASSALL FOX, 3RD
- HOLLAND, JOSIAH GILBERT (1819-1881)
- HOLLAND, PHILEMON (1552-1637)
- HOLLAND, RICHARD, or RICHARD DE HOLANDE (fl. 1450)
- HOLLAND, SIR HENRY, BART
Holland Kiewiet, and in See also:France Dixhuit, are names of the lapwing, given to it from its usual cry. Other See also:English names are green plover and hornpie—the latter from its See also:long hornlike crest and pied plumage. The lapwing's conspicuous crest seems to have been the cause of a See also:common blunder among English writers of the middle ages, who translated the Latin word Upupa, See also:property See also:hoopoe, by lapwing, as being the crested bird with which they were best acquainted. In like manner other writers of the same or an earlier See also:period latinized lapwing by Egrettides (plural), and rendered that again into English as egrets—the tuft of feathers misleading them also. The word Vanellus is from vannus, the See also:fan used for winnowing See also:corn, and refers to the audible beating of the bird's wings.somewhat slow flapping of which impels the See also:body at each stroke with a See also:manifest though easy jerk. Yet on occasion, as when performing its migrations, or even its almost daily transits from one feeding-ground to another, and still more when being pursued by a See also:falcon, the See also:speed with which it moves through the See also:air is very considerable. On the ground this bird runs nimbly, and is nearly always engaged in searching for its See also:food, which is wholly See also:animal.
Allied to the lapwing are several forms that have been placed by ornithologists in the genera Hoplopterus, Chettusia, Lobivanellus, Defilippie. In some of them the See also:hind toe, which has already ceased to have any See also:function in the lapwing, is wholly wanting. In others the wings are armed with a tubercle or even a See also:sharp See also:spur on the carpus. Few have any occipital crest, but several have the See also:face ornamented by the outgrowth of a fleshy See also:lobe or lobes. With the exception of See also:North See also:America, they are found in most parts of the world, but perhaps the greater number in See also:Africa. See also:Europe has three species—Hoploplerus spinosus, the spur-winged plover, and Chettusia gregaria and C. leucura; but the first and last are only stragglers from Africa and See also:Asia. (A.
End of Article: LAPWING (O.Eng. hledpewince= " one who turns about in running or flight ")
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!