or rush, where it scrapes rather a deep hole in the ground, and lines it with dried
: °

eges are four in number, of a cream-yellow colour, with numerous
s of a lighter hue appearing as if beneath the surface of

projecting tuft of grass :
grass, leaves, and other materials. The

brown upon the surface, and other
aced with the narrow ends together, so as to occupy less space ;”

” says Macgillivray, ‘‘ that one is apt to marvel how so small a
ing an inch and four-twelfths, and their greatest breadth

spots of dark
the shell.” ‘ They are pyriform, and pl
and ‘‘they are so disproportionately large,

bird could have laid them, their average length be an 7 : .
“If disturbed during the period of incubation,” continues Mr. Selby, ‘‘ the female quits the nest

eee i i ine ter As soon, however, as tl
as quietly as possible, and usually flies to a distance, making no ou ery: ‘ 7 s the young
are hatched, her manners completely alter ; she becomes greatly agitated on the apprehension of danger,
and every stratagem is resorted to, such as feigning lameness and inability of fight, to divert the attention
of the intruder from the unfledged brood. As soon as hatched, the young quit the nest, and in the course
of three weeks are nearly able to fly. If discovered and an stony be made te catch them before they are
fully fledged, they boldly take to the water and dive to a considerable distance. :
«Of all our summer birds of passage,” says Mr. Thompson, ‘‘ the Sandpiper, so attractive from its
beautifully bronzed plumage, lively motions, loud piping note, and graceful curving flight, is the most widely
dispersed, and the least choice as to locality, a mere sufficiency of any in any form being apparently the
only essential to its presence. In the petty tarns situated amid the sublime scenery of our lofty mountains,
alt in Donegal, on the low and extensive shores of our three greatest lakes—Lough Neagh,

as at Lough S
Erne, and Corrib, around the richly wooded and rocky shores of Killarney, as well as about lakes of every
intermediate size and physical character, I have remarked this species. It is also found at the lofty source
of our springs and brooks, in the beds of rocky torrents and geutly flowing streams, and along the banks
of the largest rivers, until, in their gathered might, they move majestically to mingle with the ocean. Here,
again, on shores of every description—the soft oozy beach, the sand, the gravel, about the Norway-like
ford of the Killeries in Connemara, and the iron-bound coast of Antrim, including the Giant’s Causeway itself
—its piping note proclaims its presence.”

So far as I am aware, the Summer Snipe does not breed on the banks of the Thames or any of its tribu-
taries; but we know that it constructs its slight nest and rears its young in all suitable situations in Derby-
shire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Scotland, and Ireland.

The young are very peculiar in their appearance, and in their markings very much resemble youthful
Avocets and long-legged Plovers. These little creatures, even before the appearance of their tail-feathers,
run over the shingle with great agility, and readily screen themselves from observation by creeping under a
stone, into a crevice in the earth, or among the herbage on the river-side.

The sexes are alike in plumage, and may be thus described :—

The head, all the upper surface, wing-coverts, and tertiaries greenish olive with a bronzy lustre; the
feathers of the head and back with a streak of dark brown down the centre, and the wing-coverts crossed by
numerous irregular bars of the same hue; primaries brown, glossed with bronze, with a narrow edging of
white at the tip, and a broader mark of white along the basal portion of the inner web; secondaries white
at the base, bronzy olive for the remainder of their length, with a narrow edging of white at the tip; above
the eye a stripe of white; sides of the neck and breast pale olive ; throat, centre of the neck, and all the
under sarface white ; tail bronzy olive, the central feathers with a crescent of black at the tip, the next two
or three on each side lighter, spotted with dark brown on each web, crossed with black near the end, and
tipped with white; the outer feathers on each side the same, except that the external web is white instead
of bronzy olive; the remainder of the bill pale flesh-colour, tip of the upper and the greater part of the
under mandible dark brown ; irides blackish brown; legs and feet pale greenish white.

The young in the first autumn are similar in colour, but have the whole of the upper surface of the body,
under mandible, wings, and tail conspicuously barred with brown.

In the downy state, or when about two days old, a conspicuous line of black runs from the base of the
bill through the eye to the occiput, and a similar dark line runs down the centre of the back; the upper
surface is mottled with brown and grey; the under surface pure white; the legs fleshy white.

The Plate represents a male, a female, a nest of young ones, and an egg, all of the size of nature.