8 14 NESTS AXD EGGS OF AVSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Observation.t. — Gould shot a single example of this species on the 

 River Mokai, in New South Wales, on July, 12, 1839. The second 

 record was by a Mr. Waller, who killed one near Brisbane in May, 1869, 

 and since then birds have been obtained in South Australia. Roughly 

 described, the Terek Sandpiper is drab-colovu-ed above and lighter on 

 the underneath paits, somewhat short, brownish-orange legs, and long 

 bill (two inches), slightly upturned,, of the same coloiu-, but passing into 

 black towards the point. Total length of bird, eight and a half inches 

 Mr. Seebohm says it appears to be the Arctic form of the Common 

 Sandpiper; while Dr. Latliam states that in the siunmer of the north 

 it is niunerous in the neighbom-hood of the Caspian Sea, particularly 

 about the mouth of the Terek River (hence the name), where it breeds, 

 and that it is usually met with in flocks in the marshes, especially on the 

 borders of the salt lakes. 



More recently Russian naturalists have found the Terek Sandpiper 

 nesting in the valleys of the Volga and Ural rivers, while Chomiakoff 

 found eggs and young in another locality on the Oka, to the south of 

 Moscow ; therefore, although Messrs. Alston and Harvie-Brown found 

 the species nesting in abundance at the north of the Dwina, in June, 

 1872, the Terek Sandpiper is evidently not strictly an Arctic breeding 

 species. 



628. — Glottis nebularius, Gvninerns. — (529) 

 GREENSHANK. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 36. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 481. 

 Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Various. 



Geor/r/iphiral Dixtrihtitinu. — Australia in general and Tasnnnia ; 

 also Africa, India, &c., migrating to breed in the north of the Old 

 World. 



,V<.s^ — A shallow depression in a dry tuft of grass, lined sparingly 

 with dry, wiry grass and fragments of heath. Situated in or on the 

 borders of marshy ground, by the side of a lake, or in open forest, often 

 at some distance fi'om water (Butler). 



Eggs. — Clutch, four; exceedingly pyrifoim in shape; Icxtmc, com 

 paratively fine ; surface glossy ; coloiu', vai'ies from stony-grey to rich 

 stone, blotched and spotted, especially about the apex, with rich reddish- 

 brown or umber and dull purplish-grey. Dimensions in inches of odd 

 examples: (1) 1-96 x 1-4, (2) l-!).') xVs ; of a pair: (1) 1-9 x 1-32, 

 (2) 1-84 X 1-36. 



Ohgervf/tioiix. — The Greenshank, it is interesting to note, is exactly 

 tiie same species that is found in the British Isles. Ovn- vi.sitors probably 

 breed about the Arctic Circle in Siberia, coming to Australia by way of 

 Eastern Asia and down tln' Mnlay.iii Areliipelago. In the season it 



