SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 359 



bird undergoes no seasonal changes of plumage, but the males are somewhat 

 richer in hue than the females, and have the bill brighter. 



Green Sandpiper, Totanus ochropus, — Chevalier cul-blanc, Fr. — Culbianco, 

 It. — Punktierte Strandlaufer, G. Dispersed widely over Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa. It is chiefly met with in this country on its spring and autumnal migra- 

 tions, though a few appear to breed in Wales and other mountainous districts. 

 Frequents ponds, rivulets, and ditches, instead of, like most of its congeners, the 

 sea-shore. " The snow-white rump of the Green Sandpiper renders it a con- 

 spicuous object when flushed, at which time it utters a shrill whistling note : it 

 runs with great activity, but generally flies low, skimming over the smface of the 

 water, and following the bends and angles of the stream. It differs from the 

 Wood Sandpiper in its larger size, its shorter tarsi, and in the more diminutive 

 spotting of the upper surface." The sexes are nearly similar. The nest is made 

 beside a stream, and the eggs are greenish white blotched with brown. 



Wood Sandpiper, Totanus glareola, — Chevalier sylvain, Fr. — Wald Strand- 

 laiifer, G. " This species has been so frequently confounded with the preceding, 

 that we are induced to figure both on the same plate, in order to enable our readers 

 more readily to distinguish their differential characters. There is no difference 

 in the colouring of the sexes of either species, and as their plumage is not 

 influenced by the seasons or other causes, we trust our plate will illustrate every 

 feature necessary to render their distinctness sufficiently apparent. The Wood 

 Sandpiper is still more rarely seen in the British Islands than its near ally, but 

 in every other particular the history of the preceding species is applicable to the 

 present ; it is, however, even more widely dispersed, as is proved by its being 

 found not only over the whole of the Asiatic continent, but in most of the islands 

 of the Pacific Ocean also, which we believe is not the case with -the Green Sand- 

 piper." Both figures are admirable, and scrupulously exact. 



Here, then, we close for the present ; but hope, with the approval of our readers, 

 to continue these Sketches at at early opportunity. 

 Campsall Hall, Yorkshire, 

 May 29, 1838. 



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