The status of this bird in North America is a remarkable one. Up to 1927, with the exception of Greenland, where according to Lehn Schiöler, it is an occasional visitor, it had only been recorded on about seven occasions from the American Continent. Excluding Alaska, all the other records are from the eastern seaboard, the Bahamas and Barbados. In December, 1927, large flocks, numbering thousands, according to one reporter, were recorded from a number of places along the east coast of Newfoundland, in the middle of the country and also on the west coast. Among the birds obtained was one sent from Bonavista, Newfoundland, by Canon A. G. Bagley on December 31, which still bore the ring with which it had been marked as a nestling in May, 1926, at Ullswater, Cumberland, England, by Dr. H. J. Moon.

Spring.—In the British Isles the migratory movements are rather complicated and irregular, but many birds which have wintered in the south and near the great estuaries and marshes begin to work their way back to their breeding places inland, and to the north of Scotland which is practically deserted by them during the winter months.

Courtship.—The lapwing is a highly gregarious species and even in the height of the breeding season, when territorial jealousy on the part of the males is apparent, several pairs are generally to be found nesting within a short distance of one another. The courtship habits have been closely studied by the late S. E. Brock in Scotland, and more recently by William Farren, R. H. Brown, and J. K. Stanford, so that there is plenty of material at hand.

Even in the autumn and early winter months when the weather is open, especially after frosts, a certain amount of sexual activity is evident. Some of the males show indications of territorial defense and fighting takes place intermittently. It is not till the winter is over and the males have returned to their breeding grounds, which is generally from late February to early March, that the nesting territory is definitely parceled out among the males. The areas may vary considerably in shape and size and are not always clearly defined, but each bird shows distinct signs of jealousy at any invasion on the part of a neighbor and aerial combats take place from time to time, though sometimes a male will desert the group of “scrapes” which marks his territorial center and adopt a new series. These “scrapes” form an important part in the ritual of courtship. On the appearance of a female the male utters a grating note while standing upright and moving wings and tail up and down rhythmically. He then drops to the ground and, as Brock describes it, “lying far forward on his breast, shuffles the body, and scrapes energetically with the feet, which may be seen in rapid motion. At short intervals the tail is spasmodically bent downwards, the action corresponding with energetic footwork.” He then rises jerking bits of stubble over his shoulder, and in this way a little group of hollows or “scrapes” is formed, one of which ultimately becomes the nest. Apparently the female makes choice from several sites originally selected by the male.

From time to time the male makes the spring flight which has been well described by Brock.

Rising from the ground the male executes a few labored flaps, moving the wings with exaggerated slowness, owllike; thence he quickens his pace and rising suddenly at an abrupt angle, commences the song, the greater part of which, however, is emitted as the bird falls again. During the utterance of the song is a pause occurring after the penultimate note, the performer throws himself sideways almost on his back, instantly recovering himself with a flurry of wings. The bird now scuds rapidly over the ground at a moderate height, making a pronounced humming sound with the motion of his sharply driven pinions, and occasionally tilting himself from side to side, much in the manner of a snipe when flushed.

The song is well rendered by Brock as whey-willuchooee-willuch-willuch-cooee. The first syllable long and hoarse, the second and third willuch uttered rapidly and staccato, then a pause, during which the partial somersault is executed, followed by the loud and musical final note. The Norfolk marshmen’s transliteration is also good, “Three bullocks a week, week after week.”

Sometimes two rival males will rise together in the air almost perpendicularly each trying to rise above the other.

At intervals the upper bird stoops suddenly to the lower, an attack usually avoided by an agile turn of the wing, but occasionally a distant and hollow clap is audible, indicating an exchange of blows apparently with the wing. On at length parting company both combatants break into full song flight, repeating it twice or thrice ere resettling in their respective stations.

These encounters seem as a rule not to be of a very serious character and the occasional fights between rivals carried on near the ground, in which one bird swoops repeatedly from one side or the other at its opponent, which in turn avoids the attack by little upward springs or swerving aside, seem to be of a more serious character. When a hen bird approaches, the male bird runs toward her and describes a half circle round her with stiff and constrained air. Then he makes for the nearest “scrape” and at once drops into it, working with furious energy and occasionally dropping bits of straw over his shoulder. At first the hen makes no response, but about a fortnight after the beginning of the courtship she approaches the spot where he is at work by indirect stages. The male then rises and steps forward, with his back to the hen, slowly lowering his bill to the ground and raising his tail perpendicularly, thus displaying his richly colored undertail coverts. The female now settles into the “scrape” and imitates the actions of the cock, but with less energy, the male meanwhile retaining his strange uptilted attitude and collecting nesting material which is jerked over his shoulder toward the “scrape.” When at length the hen leaves the “scrape” the male reenters and sometimes the hen also repeats the process. Coition takes place a few days before the eggs are laid and immediately afterwards the hen works in the “scrape” with far more energy than before, the male often taking his place in another scrape. Both birds go through the ceremony of throwing bits of nest material over the shoulder. No serious attempt is made on the part of other males to interfere with a paired hen, and she on her part seems to avoid any strange cock bird.

Nesting.—Although it is usual for several pairs to breed in company the actual nests are usually some distance apart, and nearly always on slightly raised ground. They may be found on plowed land or on pasture and occasionally moorland, and vary somewhat in size, some being merely muddy hollows with a few bits of straw and bent, while others, especially on grass lands, are fairly substantial edifices of dead vegetable matter collected round the nesting “scrape” originally made by the male.

Eggs.—Normally four, but on rare occasions five, have been recorded, and when a bird has been robbed twice, sets of three and even two or one egg may be found late in the season. When the birds have been much persecuted as many as 20 have been laid in one season by a single female. They are pyriform in shape and lie in the nest with the points touching one another. As a rule there is not much variation, the usual ground color being stone color or brownish olive with black spots and blotches chiefly towards the large end. Some eggs have the ground almost hidden by dense black markings, and there are types in which the spots are mainly replaced by short black lines. More remarkable varieties are those in which the ground color in bluish white or some shade of greenish olive, with scanty markings of black, and the rare erythristic type in which the ground color is pale brick red or deep red brown with rich red brown markings. This wonderful variation has been recorded from Friesland as well as many parts of the British Isles. The measurements of 100 eggs measured by the writer average 47 by 33.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 58 by 32.5, 47.4 by 37.2, 42.3 by 33 and 44.7 by 31.2 millimeters.

Young.—Incubation is performed by both sexes, but much the greater part by the hen, the male being on guard to give the alarm. Incubation begins with the third or fourth egg and the period is as a rule 24 or 25 days, but in some cases is said to extend to 27 or even 28 days. The adults are very bold and demonstrative when the eggs are chipping and will even strike sheep or dogs. The young remain in the nest until the down has been thoroughly dried and at first do not travel far afield, crouching when the parents give the alarm. They can swim readily and are led by the old birds from dry uplands toward water meadows. Directly the young are able to fly they assemble into flocks. Only one brood is reared during the season.

Plumages.—The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).

Ridgway (1919) says that the sexes are alike, and that he has been unable to verify the supposed differences in the wing formula of male and female. It is, however, easy to distinguish the sexes in life by the shape of the wing of the male, which is, as described by Frohawk and others, much more rounded in shape than that of the female.

Food.—This consists largely of earthworms, mollusca (including the large slugs Arion and Agriolimax as well as the smaller snails, Helix sp.; also during the winter months marine shell fish, Tellina, Bythinia, Physa, etc.) and insects. This latter family includes Coleoptera (Otiorhynchus, Carabidae, Ocypusolens, Aphodius, Agriotes, various species of Geodephaga, etc.), Diptera, including larvae of Tipulidae, Lepidoptera (many larvae of moths such as Noctua segetum, N. exclamationes, etc.), and Orthoptera. Vegetable matter is also eaten, but not largely. Seeds of Ranunculus repens, Polygonum aviculare, and Spergula have been recognized, also fragments of seaweed (Algae) in winter. Spiders and marine crustacea are also recorded.

Behavior.—The lapwing is preeminently a gregarious bird. All through the winter months it is to be met with in flocks, sometimes of great size, and even in the breeding season it is rare to find a single pair nesting out of sight and earshot of its neighbors. The curious “wobbling” flight enables the species to be recognized at great distances. Unlike some other gregarious species, such as the starling, the lapwing is not expert in the art of simultaneous maneuvers and it is a common sight to see a big flock rise together on the wing and break up at once into two bodies moving in different directions. Then gradually birds from the smaller body will gravitate toward the larger flock and after a time the two will reunite, but there is a lack of leadership and confidence in their movements which at once distinguishes them from the smartly wheeling flocks of dunlins, knots, or other gregarious waders. Sometimes a party of golden plover will associate on the wing with a flock of lapwing, but here, again, the difference is very striking.

Enemies.—Probably the rook destroys more eggs and small young than any other foe except man, but the jackdaw, hooded crow, and carrion crow are all apt to devour the eggs. I have seen a sparrow hawk drop from a tree onto a bird rising from its nest and bind onto it for a time, but the lapwing broke free after a struggle. It is not uncommon to find remains of birds on the feeding tables of the sparrow hawk near a breeding ground. The peregrine also sometimes takes lapwing, but its erratic tumbling flight renders it a difficult prey.

Fall.—Ringing has proved that some of the British-reared birds find their way to Iceland, France, and Portugal. In mild winters there are always a considerable number of flocks in our southern counties, but hard frosts or deep snow will cause them to move to the south coast or to emigrate.

Although a most useful bird from the agriculturist’s point of view, the lapwing is shot freely during the autumn and winter, chiefly by shore shooters, while the demand for its eggs as delicacies has also been detrimental to its status. In Holland the earliest clutches are all taken for the market and this has had no injurious effect, as the birds lay again and are then protected strictly.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—Europe north to the Arctic Circle, the British Isles, but only exceptionally in the Faroes, and not in Iceland. In Finland to latitude 68° on the Muonio River and in Russia north to Archangel. Southward it breeds in Andalusia and in the Balkan Peninsula to Macedonia, but not in Greece or the Mediterranean Islands. Breeding in Morocco requires confirmation. It also breeds across Asia east to the Pacific, south to Transcaspia and Yarkand.

Winter range.—Many birds winter in the British Isles, but on the Continent they move to southern Europe and northern Africa, visiting the Atlantic isles occasionally (Canaries, Madeira, etc.). In Asia, Asia Minor, Palestine, Iraq, Persia, and north India, China, North Burma, and Japan.

Spring migration.—The northward movement of continental birds depends much on the weather. In mild winters they have appeared in Denmark in January and February, but the average date is about March 6. In Sweden the arrival is also irregular, from mid February to mid March, but in south Finland not till late in March. In central Europe the birds arrive as a rule on the breeding grounds early in March, and the Mediterranean passage is generally over by the beginning of that month.

Fall migration.—Migrants from the north arrive at Gibraltar about mid October, while in Malta the passage takes place in November, and in Greece at the end of October. In Iraq they arrive from October 22 onward, but chiefly in early November.

Casual records.—Greenland, occasional visitor (Julianehaab 1847; Fiskenaes 7, I, 1820, etc.) Iceland; numerous records between September and March; Labrador (Cartwright, January, 1917); Newfoundland, White Hills, November 23, 1905 and recently (December, 1927); Nova Scotia (Ketch Harbor, March 17, 1897); Long Island, New York (Merrick, 2 specimens, December 26, 1883 and Meccox Bay, Waterville, autumn 1905); Bahamas (Hog Island, November, 1900); Barbados (December 24, 1886); West Alaska (small islets in Norton Sound); Madeira (Machico, December 6, 1891, December 2, 1889, December 4, 1893, January 14, 1895, March 10, 1895, December 15, 1896, and November 28, 1897); Jan Mayen (30 on April 8, 1883).

[Author’s note.—The most remarkable occurrence of this species took place during the fall and winter of 1927–28. A specimen was taken on Baffin Island in October; and they appeared in large numbers in Newfoundland (Bonavista) in December, where one man was reported to have killed 60 individuals, one of which carried a band of British Bird Magazine that had been attached in Cumberland, England, in May, 1926. Capt. Donald MacMillan reported them at Anatalok Bay, Labrador, on December 22, and a specimen was obtained January 6, 1928, at North Head, Grand Manan, New Brunswick.]

C. L. Whittle (1928) has suggested the following theory, as to the possible cause of this unusual flight:

As to the cause of the movement of lapwings to Newfoundland and the route taken, it is perhaps helpful to study the Pilot Charts of the North Atlantic above referred to. During the month of December, the 16th and 17th, a well-developed cyclone of exceptional intensity had its center well to the east of Spain, with a low pressure of 28.30 inches, and with accompanying strong southeasterly winds from western Europe. These winds might easily have been instrumental in driving lapwings to Iceland, five to seven hundred miles distant, and to Greenland. Later, polar winds and a search for food may have played important parts in forcing a movement southwesterly to northern Labrador, and then southeasterly, following the coast to Newfoundland. Here, near the shore, snowless tundras, which probably would furnish a food supply, may have existed, even in December, with the result that the recently scattered birds became gradually concentrated.⁠[2]

Egg dates.—March 2 to 19 (9 dates); March 26 to 31 (18 dates); April 1 to 14 (60 dates); April 15 to 30 (29 dates, probably including many second layings); late date June 22. All the above from England.