WOOD SANDPIPER 23 



ment of luck in any case Avhere it can be closely studied. All the 

 evidence hitherto obtained goes to show that it is carried on in much 

 the same way as that of the common sandpiper {Tringa hypoleucos)^ 

 but the song flight forms a much more conspicuous part of the pro- 

 ceedings. When the male alights he has a habit of elevating his 

 wings for a moment, until, as Seebohm says, they almost meet over- 

 head, much as Temminck's stint also does. Apparently this forms 

 part of the display before the hen, but the male may also be seen 

 running by the side of the female with drooping wings. One can as 

 a rule only get a momentary glimpse and generally at a considerable 

 distance. The love song is, however, quite another matter. On the 

 heaths of West Jutland one can see the males in rapid flight even 

 from the windows of the trains, while in North Finland the loud 

 musical leero^ leero^ leero, is one of the most familiar sounds in the 

 wood-fringed marshes. John Hancock (18T4), who by persevering 

 search found the only nest which has ever been discovered in the 

 British Isles, in June 1853, gives a very graphic account of it. He 

 was on a visit to Prestwick Car, in Northumberland, at that time 

 undrained, and as he says : 



About 3 o'clock our dogs, a retriever and a setter, raised a bird about 50 

 yards in advance of us, which at once rose to a considerable height coursing 

 about, rising and sinking somewhat in the manner of a snipe, and like it, while 

 sweeping downwards with outstretched, tremulous wings, produced a peculiar 

 drumming note, but one much shriller than that of the snipe, and almost 

 amounting to a sort of musical whistle. From the strangeness of the actions 

 and peculiar whistling or drumming note, I was convinced that we had met 

 with a rare bird, and that its nest was near at hand. The birds were still in 

 view flying about ; our only chance now was to watch the bird to its nest. It 

 was not long before one of the birds " pitched " and after allowing a little 

 time for it to settle I went forth to raise it, but did not succeed. The bird, 

 however, was soon in the air again flying about as before. The watching dodge 

 was again tried and this time the bird was marked to, and raised from the 

 nest. There lay the nest, wi,th its four pretty eggs, on the side of a dry 

 hillock where grew some heath and grass in the midst of a swampy spot. 



One of the parents was subsequently shot by Mr. Reay to authen- 

 ticate the identification, and the specimen is still extant. Seebohm 

 (1884) also describes the song flight, but it is difficult to reconcile 

 his account with the facts. According to him : 



The note which the male utters during the pairing season is much more of 

 a song than that of the grasshopper warbler, which it somewhat resembles ; 

 it is a monotonous tit-it-it, begun somewhat low and slow, as. the bird is de- 

 scending in the air with fluttering upraised wings, becoming louder and more 

 rapid and reaching its climax as the bird alights on the ground or on a rail, 

 or sometimes on the bare branch of a willow, the points of its trembling wings 

 almost meeting over its head when its feet find support. This song is a by 

 no means unmusical trill, and has an almost metallic ring about it. 

 231&— 29 3 



