EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



139 



The nest is a mere hollow in the ground, lined with a few dry 

 stalks and blades of grass. 



The eggs of the Wood Sandpiper vary in ground-colour from 

 creamy- white to dull buff and very pale olive, and are very hand- 

 somely spotted and blotched with rich reddish-brown. The spots 

 vary in size from a pea downwards, and in the widest part of the 

 egg are often confluent. Occasionally the spots are evenly distri- 

 buted over the egg, but at the smaller end they are generally less 

 in size and more scattered, and in rare instances very few and far 

 between. The underlying spots are pale brown, and seldom 

 very conspicuous. They vary in length from 155 to 1"4 inch, 

 and in breadth from 11 to 1*0 inch. 



THE YELLOWSHANK. 

 (Totanus flavipes.) 



Plate 44, Fig. 11. 



The Yellow-legged Sandpiper, or Yellow-legs as it is variously 

 called, is an American bird, which is said to have occurred twice 

 in the British Islands. The species breeds in the Arctic regions 

 of the American continent, from Alaska to Greenland. It is 

 said occasionally to nest as far south as Lake Michigan. 



Mr. MacFarlane and others describe the nest as a mere depres- 

 sion in the ground. Sometimes it consists of a slight hollow, 

 lined with a few leaves and twigs. 



The eggs are four in number and very handsome. The fine 

 series of eggs of this species in the Smithsonian Institution vary 

 in ground-colour from creamy- white to pale greyish-brown. The 

 surface-spots are dark, rich, reddish-brown, and vary in size from 

 a large pea downward, many of them becoming confluent and 

 forming large irregular blotches, or occasionally taking the form 

 of streaks. Most of the markings are generally on the large end 

 of the egg, but on some specimens they are more evenly distributed 

 over the entire surface. The underlying markings are pale grey, 

 or greyish-brown, and are large and conspicuous. The eggs vary 

 in length from 1*7 to 16 inch, and in breadth from 12 to 108 

 inch. In colour they resemble those of the Greenshank, but 

 in size they are on an average slightly less than those of the 

 Redshank. 



