I suppose, since I never played Horatio, I never had cause to look up what a lapwing was and so my initial guess stuck with me, despite it being entirely wrong.
A lapwing is a bird. It is the kind of bird that wades. Apparently there was a notion that lapwings would retain a bit of shell on their heads after breaking through. You know what it’s not? A snail. It is 100% not a snail. It is not a running snail. That’s what I thought a lapwing was. But I was so wrong.
The Hamlet Project 