6o6 COMMON SANDPIPER. 



mountain barrier at an elevation of 17,000 ft. and breeds even in 

 the Himalayas ; its winter-range extending over the Indian, Malayan 

 and Australian regions, down to Tasmania. 



The nest, which is often a tolerably firm structure of grass, dry 

 leaves, bits of rush Szc, is either placed on banks more or less in the 

 vicinity of fresh water, or on the shingle of some islet ; but some- 

 times on the bare rock, and exceptionally in a pollard-willow 

 (H. S. Davenport). The eggs, 4 in number, are usually reddish-buff, 

 rather minutely spotted with two shades of brown, but occasionally 

 the ground-colour is pale bluish : measurements i -45 by i in. 

 Incubation commences by the middle of May, but fresh eggs may 

 be found nearly a month later ; while every stratagem is used by the 

 female to divert attention from her nest or young, though the latter 

 can run as soon as they are hatched and show great aptitude in 

 concealing themselves. When on the ground, this bird is in con- 

 stant motion, flirting the tail up and down, or extending and with- 

 drawing the head and neck; it often alights on fences and bushes, 

 and swims and dives well. In spring it rises in the air, trilling a 

 pleasing song, but the usual note is a piping w/ieef, wheet, wheet. 

 The food consists of worms, insects and their larvae. 



The adult male in summer has the upper parts of a bronzy-brown, 

 minutely flecked and barred with umber ; the three outer pairs of 

 tail-feathers broadly tipped with white and barred with black, the 

 rest chiefly bronzy-brown ; the chin white ; sides of the neck and 

 breast pale ash with dusky streaks ; under-parts white. Length 8 in. 

 (bill I in.), wing 4*25 in. The female is a trifle larger. After the 

 autumn moult the upper parts are more uniform in colour. The 

 young have the upper feathers margined with buff, and no dark 

 streaks down the middle of the throat. 



The American Spotted Sandpiper, T. macularms, was allowed to 

 retain its place as a British bird in the 4th Ed. of ' Yarrell,' because, 

 among the numerous recorded instances of its occurrence, there 

 were two which could not with certainty be attributed to igno- 

 rance or deliberate fraud ; but I think that the species has no claim 

 to be considered as one of our visitors. Credulous collectors of 

 " British-killed " specimens will do well to read the investigations of 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney in his ' Rambles of a Naturalist,' p. 255, and in 

 ' The Naturalist,' 1895, p. 311, or the exposure of a dealer's tricks in 

 Adamson's 'Some more Scraps about Birds,' p. 256. The American 

 bird has all the secondaries broadly barred with ash-brown, while in 

 the Common Sandpiper the 8th and 9th are nearly white. 



