_Charadrius hiaticula_ is the scientific name of this species; we have already confessed our ignorance of the meaning of the first term; according to the old naturalist Pliny, it is "a bird the seeing of which cures those that have the jaundice;" but we must say that we are extremely doubtful if the sight of any bird included by modern naturalists in the genus _Charadrius_ would have such a wonderful effect. The Latin dictionary tells us that the term comes from the Greek, and that one of its meanings is _terrÊ fissura_, which we may translate furrowed earth; so that the name may have reference to the bird's real or supposed habit of haunting the furrows of the ploughed field, or the rough uneven ground of rocky shores or barren places. With regard to the specific name _hiaticula_, we have something very like it in English--_hiatus_, a break, an aperture, or opening; the Latin word from which it comes is precisely similar. Why applied to this bird cannot tell, except it be from its being chiefly found on broken and uneven ground. The Ring Plover, or Dotterel, is altogether a shore bird, and may be found on most parts of the British coast, and along the margins of the creeks, estuaries, and tidal rivers, and sometimes by the inland lakes and ponds. It is a bright lively creature, with party-coloured plumage of black, brown, and white. It plays about on the sands, following the retiring tide, and fleeing before its advance, as we see children do; its silky feathers ruffled by the wind, and its shrill clear whistle making pleasant music amid the rocks, and over the wide wild ocean scenery. Its eggs are laid in some slight natural hollow in the sand or small gravel, sheltered by a tuft of reeds or coarse herbage, sometimes just above high-water mark, but frequently in the marshy grounds further inland; they are four in number, of a greenish grey, buff, or cream-colour, spotted and streaked with grey and black, or dark brown. These birds generally pair in May; the male and female both sit on the eggs, and are very careful of them and the young. Their general food is worms, marine and other aquatic insects, shrimps, and small crustaceous animals. On moonlight nights they may be seen searching diligently with quick and incessant movements, their white plumes flashing here and there like silver. LAPWING. COMMON, CRESTED, OR, GREEN LAPWING. GREEN PLOVER. LAPWING SANDPIPER. PEWIT. TEWIT. TEACHET. PEESE-WEEP. FRENCH PIGEON. FIGURE 35.