Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-10
FLOWERS, EGGS.
How the Marshmen Supply the London
Market With the DeIicacy.

water hen, cOUt black headed gull, red
shank, or even the thrice-humb
barn door" fowl, scarce and difficul
4 to procure, and those of the Iapwing
otherwise called green plover or peewit
abundant and cheap in price, epicure-
ans would probably discover that some
of the former eggs are really quite
equal in richness and delicacy of flavor
to the much vaunted latter, says 1.-THE
Daily Mail"
Be this as it may, it is as an offering
to the shrine of the Goddess of Fashion
rather than to their gastronomic quail
| ties that the beautiful, notified olive
eggs of the green plover are so diligent-
| ly sought after for the tables of the
wealthy. Eighteen shillings a dozen is
| quite modest sum to pay for early
plovers' eggs, and even then, it is
whispered, many a redShonk'S egg
| which very nearly resembles in form,
size and marking that of the lapwing-
finds a way into the green moss basket,
and we have heard of eggs bearing but
slight outward appearance to the real
thing being cunningly painted by hand
and then palmed off upon the unsus-
pccting customers at an eXorbitant
| price.
| During March the large companies of
green plover which congregate on the
coast and cultivated lands pair" and
seek suitable breeding places on the
moors, marshes, meadows and ploughs
Lapwings breed considerably inland,
but far greater number nest on the
low lying levels bordering the sea coast
while Holland contributes her full quo
i IN of Ina he, n16c Of Of al
vers' eggs which are consumed annu-
ally in this country.
| Unlike the majority of ground nest
ers," the lapwing cannot be called eth
er an artistic or an Industrious builder
Indeed, this beautiful bird takes but
little trouble in constructing a nursery
for its offspring, slight depression in
the earth with a few dry bents laid
therein being very suitable and fitting
place in which to deposit the four
shapely eggs when the season of incu-
baton arrives.
| On the other hand, the lapwing is an
excellent parent, and resorts to all
| kinds of Stratagem to draw an enemy
away from it's eggs Of young. l have
witnessed a pair of angry birds freely
attacking a shepard's dog which had
! trespa ssed too near their nest, until
the canine intruder was forced to beat
a hasty and somewhat undignifed re-
| treat across the marshes.
| On some parts of the east coast mar
shes egg gathering forms quite an i'm
| portant industry during the nesting
season, and a good deal of rivalry eX-
| lists between the local marShmen and
fen jewellers as regards the collecting
of the first ''piewipes' eggs" The egg
ing is conducted not in haphazard
fashion, but Systematically and in
| somewhat the same manner as point
er dog works when ranging for game
Very frequently those fields or mar
she's which appear to mere man. the
most suitable for nesting purposes will
be found quite deserted by lapwings
But there is no difficulty in learning
no sooner does one set foot on land in
habited by peewits or redshanks during
the breeding season than the welkin
rings again with the plaintive call Of
the former bird and the shfill, far
reaching cry of the yelper-tokens of
the feathered creatures fear and rage
at the appearance of their arch enemy
man in their sanctuary.
In days gone by when practically
every loaf of white bread eaten in
Great Britain was made from home
grown wheat far greater area of the
fens and marshes was under cultivation
than is the case today, and the old
lands and furrows' may still often be
traced upon what are now grass mar
shes Such marshes form very favor
ite nesting grounds for lapWing and
redshanks, and until comparatively
recent years large colonies of black
headed gulls used to breed on the low
lying levels of the east coast.
The mCdus operandi of the egg gath
erer on the marshes is as follows:
Armed with hay-lined basket, and in
some cases a specially designed box
fitted with small compartments or pig
eOn-holes" just large enough to take
one egg, he proceeds up or down the
Glands" from end to end, walking slow
ly anil searching every foot of ground
as he goes. Suddenly his eyes rest
upon what appear at first sight to be a
couple of mottled pebbles lying in /;
small shaped hole under a tuft of
dry hents. They are redshanks eggs
and, with a muttered "Wretched ode
tukes,' the marsnman commanders
both eggs, quite needless as to whether
or not the parent bird discovers that il
has been plundered, and deposits them
in the basket. Meanwhile a beautiful
bird of about the same size and not UNI
like a snipc in appearance flies round
and rourd the head of the man utterine
shrill cries of hatred and alarm-cries
which warn every feathered deniZen Of
the marshes that the egg gatherer has
commenced his work Of despoliation.
Feeling very aggrieved that the first
nest of the season should have con-
tanned redshanks' instead of the much
more desirable plovers' eggs, the
marshman continues on his beat. For
some little time, perchance, not a sign
of nest of any kind does he meet
with. and having with the exception
of the couple of 'shanks' eggs) drawn
blank the first five lands he starts.
; somewhat pessimistically, along the
; sixth, mutterng, 1T be full y'arly for
piewipes eggs, I doubt" as he goes.
He has not proceeded far however,
before metallic green and white plum
aged bird nuttprS ont from a clump of