_Vanellus_ comprises the true Lapwings; it is a closely allied genus to the last, and varies as to the possession of a hind-toe. _V. cristatus_, the English Peewit or Green Plover, has the upper parts and motile crest bottle-green, with a purple and copper gloss; the throat and upper breast black; the cheeks, sides of the neck, base of tail, and under surface white; the upper and lower tail-coverts bay. The slow flapping flight and shrill cry are as familiar to us as are the cock's aerial evolutions, and the habit of tumbling on the ground with an apparently broken wing to decoy intruders from the brood. This species frequents alike cultivated ground, marshes, and wastes, depositing its four olive eggs with black markings in a scraping in the soil lined with a little dry herbage; towards autumn it feeds in large flocks upon the shore, being semi-crepuscular, as might be expected from the large eyes. Breeding in most of Europe, Northern Asia, and even North Africa, it strays to Greenland and Jan Mayen, occurs plentifully in Japan, and at times in Alaska, and migrates as far south as Barbados, North India, and China. The somewhat similar Téru-téru (_V. cayennensis_),[186] with long crest and large blunt yellow spur, occupies the east, and the larger _V. chilensis_ the west and south of South America; _V. resplendens_ inhabits the Andes of North Chili, Peru, and Ecuador; _V. coronatus_ South and East Africa; _V. melanopterus_, the latter and Arabia; _V. inornatus_ West and South-East Africa. The long legged _Chettusia gregaria_, which, like the next genus, possesses a hallux, has occurred in Britain and South-West Europe, but breeds from South-East Europe to Lake Saisan, and migrates to North-East {276}Africa, India, and Ceylon. _C. leucura_, of similar range, winters in North-East Africa and North India. _Defilippia crassirostris_ of North-East, and _D. leucoptera_ of South-East Africa, with very long toes and much white on the wing, are nearly akin to the above. _Hoplopterus spinosus_, the three-toed Spur-winged Lapwing of Egypt and the northern Ethiopian Region, which wanders to South-East Europe and Persia, is a crested black and white species with a brownish back. The Arabs call it "Zic-zac" from its cry, while it attacks birds on the wing with its spur. _H. speciosus_ occupies South Africa, _H. cayanus_ most of South America, _H. ventralis_ ranges from North and Central India to Hainan.