136 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE COMMON SANDPIPER 

 (Totanus hypoleucus.) * 



Plate 43, Figs. 1, 3. 



The Common Sandpiper is a well-known summer visitor to the 

 British Islands. It breeds throughout Scandinavia, but in North 

 Russia and Siberia it is not found north of the Arctic circle. It 

 nests in suitable localities throughout Europe, and in Asia as 

 far south as Turkestan (and possibly Persia), Cashmere, China, 

 and Japan. 



The nest is very simple, a little hollow scratched in the ground, 

 and lined with a few bits of dry grass, scraps of heather, dead 

 leaves, or bits of withered rush. 



In this slight cradle the female lays four eggs, very large in 

 comparison with the size of the bird. They vary in ground- 

 colour from white, with the faintest possible tinge of green, to 

 pale creamy-buff, speckled, spotted, and blotched with light and 

 dark reddish-brown, and with underlying markings of inky-grey. 

 The markings are seldom very large, varying in size from that of 

 a small pea to a mere speck, and are most numerous on the large 

 end of the egg. Sometimes the markings are confluent on the 

 large end, gradually becoming scattered over the rest of the sur- 

 face. They are pyriform in shape, and vary in length from 1'6 to 

 1"4 inch, and in breadth from 113 to l'O inch. 



THE SPOTTED SANDPIPEE. 

 (Totanus macularius.) t 



Plate 43, Figs. 4, 6. 



The Spotted Sandpiper has been recorded from the British 

 Islands on many occasions, but the number of records admitted to 

 be correct does not exceed half-a-dozen. The Spotted Sandpiper 

 has a very similar range in America to that of the Common Sand- 

 piper in the Old World. In the north it does not quite reach the 

 Arctic circle ; but it breeds through the United States, migrating 

 southwards in autumn to winter in Mexico, the West Indies, 

 Central America, and the northern portion of the South American 

 continent. 



* Tritigoides hypoleucus — Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 283. 

 f Tringoides macularius — Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 287. 



