WOOD SANDPIPER 25 



from the ground. There is some evidence that in certain parts of the 

 range this species breeds almost in colonies, Collett has described a 

 case of this kind from the high field of southern Norway, and 

 Forester Hintz (sen.) writes that on one marshy flat of about 60 

 acres in Mecklenberg from 7 to 9 pairs were breeding, and that on 

 May 25, 1858, he received no fewer than 26 fresh and partly incu- 

 bated eggs from this locality. 



Eggs. — These are normally four in number, pyriform in shape 

 and thin shelled. The ground color varies from a beautiful pale 

 green to creamy white and exceptionally to warm buff. They are 

 spotted and blotched, more heavily at the large end, with warm 

 reddish brown, some eggs have most of the markings small, but 

 others have large and almost confluent blotches. There are also a 

 few purplish brown shell marks. The measurements of 100 eggs 

 average 38.34 by 26.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 42 by 28.1, 41.5 by 28.5, 35.5 by 25 and 37 by 24.4 

 millimeters. 



Young. — Both sexes take part in incubation; all the birds shot 

 by Popham from the nest in 1895 were males, but in 1900 he found 

 that out of two killed one was a male and the other a female. 

 Collett also notes that both sexes have incubation patches. When 

 the young are hatched the parents display the greatest anxiety, 

 but the male bird seems to take the greater share in brooding and 

 guarding them. On one occasion H. J. Pearson (1904) surprised 

 a bird with four young only about a day old in a marsh. He placed 

 the young in his pocket after having spent half an hour in finding 

 them, though they were fully exposed to view and all within 10 yards. 

 The young soon began to cry out and the parent bird, which he 

 surmised to be the male, followed him nearly a mile, often settling 

 within 5 feet and expressing his views. He then flew back to the 

 marsh, but actually returned and> settled on a low shed near the 

 house. Lieut. S. A. Da vies (1895) having caught a brood of young, 

 placed them on the ground in a marsh, first in one place and then 

 in another, in order to watch them. 



The male bird would run excitedly in and out of the tussocks, searching 

 everyv.'here till he heard their feeble chirp. Then he would run toward them 

 and settle down a yard or two off, quickening his note to a continuous giff-giff- 

 giff. Then all the young had to tumble along laboriously (for they could 

 hardly walk) till they reached the male bird who tucked them safely under 

 his wings ; once or twice the female bird appeared on the scene for a minute 

 or two, when both would soar in the air like drumming snipe. 



Plumages. — The molts and plumages are fully described in A 

 Practical Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby 

 (1920), to which the reader is referred. 



