248 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



in breadth. Incubation is probably performed by both 

 sexes, and lasts about three weeks. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the Spotted 

 Sandpiper are distinguished from those of alHed species 

 by their colour and size. They cannot be easily confused 

 with those of the Common Sandpiper, but somewhat 

 resemble those of the Killdeer Plover, although they are 

 perceptibly smaller and blunter. 



Family CHARADRIID.4^. Genus Totanus. 



Sub-family TOTANINyE. 



GREEN SANDPIPER. 



Totanus ochropus {Linnmis). 



(British : Spring and autumn coasting migrant ; some, winter.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, middle of April to end of 

 June, according to locality. 



Breeding area : Northern and Central Pal?earctic 

 region. The Green Sandpiper breeds in the swampy 

 forests about the vicinity of the Arctic Circle across 

 Europe and Asia, and in a similar climate at high 

 elevations in more southerly latitudes, in the Pyrenees, 

 the Alps, the Carpathians, and the Caucasus, and east- 

 wards on the mountains of Turkestan and Southern 

 Siberia. 



Breeding habits : The Green Sandpiper reaches its 

 southern breeding grounds in April, but further north it 

 is from one to two months later. It can scarcely be 

 classed as gregarious, nor is it at all social, even during 

 winter. At its breeding grounds it lives in scattered 

 pairs, which appear to keep exclusively to themselves. 



