20 BULLETIN 14G, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



water insects such as the Phryganeidae are also taken and also 

 larvae of Diptera. Other substances recorded include wood lice, 

 spiders, and not infrequently the very small red worms, which are 

 to be met with on the edges of stagnant pools, but apparently not 

 common earthworms. Traces of vegetable matter are also recorded. 

 H. Stevenson also includes small fresh-water moUusca, and W. Farren, 

 algae, tender shoots of plants and on the seashore thin shelled 

 Crustacea. 



Behavior. — The green sandpiper may be met with in the British 

 Islands in almost every month of the year except perhaps June, 

 when it is decidedly rare, though only a few individuals stay with 

 us through the winter. As some birds have undoubtedly stayed 

 through the summer, breeding has been suspected on several oc- 

 casions, but the evidence has always been unsatisfactory. It occurs 

 most frequently in spring and autumn, sometimes singly and some- 

 times (especially in autumn) in family parties, haunting the mar- 

 gins of brooks and ponds. 



They are much more deliberate in their movements than the 

 common sandpiper and search the mud very thoroughly, boring into 

 it with the bill, probably in search of the small red worms on wiiich 

 they feed. Without being especiallj^ shy, the}^ have their wits about 

 them and frequently the piping note which they utter when well on 

 the wing (not just prior to rising) is the first indication of their 

 presence to the shooter. The striking contrast of color between 

 the dark greenish mantle and the snow white rump and tail co-«^erts 

 render its recognition a fairly simple matter. From the wood sand- 

 piper it can be readily distinguished if a glimpse can be caught of 

 the undersurface of the wing, for in the green sandpiper the axil- 

 lars are very dark, looking almost black, whereas in the wood sand- 

 piper they appear almost white with faint barrings. 



Voice. — ^With regard to the notes, during the breeding season the 

 alarm is given by a loud sharp call which is variously written as gile, 

 giff, yick^ yech., etc., somewhat recalling the nuthatches call. Christo- 

 leit also describes a pairing song, which bears some resemblance to 

 that of the other sandpipers, but does not make it clear whether it is 

 uttered on the wing or on the ground. In forested country it is 

 naturally not so easy to settle a point of this kind as in open country. 

 The full song is written by him as : Tittittitluidich-luidich titluidie 

 titluidie titluidie-titt-titt. Probably this is the love song and forms 

 part of the courtship, but we still await a connected history of the 

 courtship of this species. 



Fall. — Hintz noticed the last birds on their German breeding 

 grounds up to July 25, and it is about the middle of July when the 

 first immigrants appear in the British Isles. The great majority of 



