artially feathered, J only obtained one nest of eggs. The nest is generally
among stunted heath or scrubby plants of the bog-myrtle, or

young in the downy state, and p

short distance from the water,
It is placed in a hollow and is constructed of dry grass and other plants.

placed ata)

among coarse grass and rushes.

The eggs are four in number.”
The late Mr. John Wolley, wr

«©The Wood Sandpiper breeds in both great and
a hill, as happened this spring within a hundred yards of where | am now writing, in a place where we were

often passing. Looking out of my window almost any time in the summer, I could see several of these
birds standing on the tops of stakes, and perhaps hear them crying /eero, leero, or uttering their notes of
It is beautiful to see the Wood-Sandpiper playing in the air in the early spring. It rises to a great
height, and then, suddenly steadying its wings and keeping them open, it glides gently upwards for a short
distance, and down again on the other side of the little arch it so forms upon the former line of its course.
. Ss . = e e , ae 2 ”
This unexpected play in the flight has a very pretty effect, it is done so easily and gracefully.

Respecting the nest mentioned above as having been found by Mr. Hancock, Mr. Hewitson says, “ On
the 3rd of June 1853, he succeeded, after a long and persevering watch, in discovering the nest and eggs
cies for the first time in Britain, at Prestwick Carr, near Newcastle. ‘The nest,’ ” says Mr. Han
llock in a marshy part of the carr, amongst heather and long grass, a situation
hich the Snipe builds. It is composed of fine grass or carex, loosely put
inches inside diameter, and two inches deep. The eggs were quite fresh.

iting to Mr. Hewitson from Lapland, says :—
small marshes, and in wet places, even on the slope of

alarm.

of this spe
cock “was situated on a hi
perfectly similar to that in w
together, and measures three
A friend shot the parent bird, which is now in my collection.’

Mr. Yarrell describes the eggs as “‘ pointed in shape, of a pale greenish-white, spotted and speckled, par-
the broad end, with dark reddish-brown, and as measuring one inch and seven lines in length

99

ticularly over
by one inch and half a line in breadth.”

The food consists of worms, small snails, insects and their larvee.

“The Wood-Sandpiper,” says Mr. Wheelwright, in his ‘Spring and Summer in Lapland,’ “ was very
common here; and far different are the quiet unobtrusive habits of this little bird during the breeding-
season to the boisterous, noisy behaviour of its congener the Green Sandpiper. Early in the summer the
Wood-Sandpiper utters a pretty little song, which it trills out when seated on a tussock of grass, or when
rising in the air in the vicinity of the nest. I have much oftener seen this bird seated on a tree or on a rail
than the Green Sandpiper, although that bird will occasionally perch.”

Mr. Stevenson informs me that, ‘‘ compared with the Green Sandpiper, the present bird is a scarce migrant
in Norfolk, and has become more so of late years, the few specimens procured being killed on their
migratory passage in April and May and again in August and September.”

Considerable difference occurs in the marking of the plumage at opposite seasons of the year. In summer
the neck is much more strongly marked and streaked than in winter.

The illustrations of this and the allied species, 7. ochropus, will show very plainly how the two differ from
each other.

The Plate represents a male and a female in their summer dress, with a brood of young, all of the size of life.