264 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Tringa. 



Sub-family SCOLOPACINAL. 



BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. 



Tringa platyrhyncha, Temminck. 



(British : Rare abnormal spring and autumn migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, latter half of May, and 

 in June. 



Breeding area : Northern Palaearctic region. Al- 

 though the Broad-billed Sandpiper has been met with 

 in various parts of Europe and Asia during summer, from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific, its breeding grounds are 

 practically untraced. It has only been met with nesting 

 on the Scandinavian fells as far south as lat. 60°, and in 

 Finland. It may possibly breed in the Baikal area, and 

 on the Stanavoi mountains in Eastern Siberia. 



Breeding habits : The Broad-billed Sandpiper 

 reaches such of its breeding grounds as are known about 

 the last week in May. It is perhaps more of a social 

 species than a gregarious one, but it appears to breed 

 in small if scattered colonies. It pairs annually, and, as 

 usual, much of its courtship is carried on in the air, the 

 bird careering about like a Snipe, and uttering a rapid 

 note. Richard Dann met with this bird breeding in 

 small colonies in the grassy morasses and swamps at the 

 head of the Bothnian Gulf, and in the swamps of the 

 Dovre-fjcld, three thousand feet above sea-level. Just 

 after its arrival it was very^ wild and war}% feeding on the 

 banks of the pools and lakes. As the breeding season 

 approached, it became more skulking, creeping through 

 the long grass, and when flushed, dropping again almost 

 at once. He describes the nest as being like that of a 

 Snipe, and made in a tuft of grass. Wolley also was 

 fortunate enough to meet with this species. He says that 



