1 88 



British Birds. 



THE 



BROAD-BILLED 



SANDPIPER. 



(Limicola 

 platyrhyncha.) 



The Broad-billed Sandpiper. 



The peculiar bill 

 o t the present 

 species is its best 

 character for dis- 

 tinction, as it has 

 the culmen broad 

 and flat, tapering off into an awl-like 

 tip, which is slight!}' decurved also ; 

 the bill too is rather long (i'3-inch) 

 and e.xceeds the tarsus (O'8-inch) con- 

 siderably in length. It is a darker bird 

 than a Dunlin, being mottled with rufous 

 in summer, and having the throat and 

 breast thickly marked with dusky blackish streaks ; in winter the under surface 

 of the body is white, with a few dusky streaks on the breast. So far as is known 

 the species has not been noticed in Scotland, and has occurred only once in Ireland, 

 but nearly a dozen specimens have been procured in the eastern and southern counties 

 of England. It breeds in Northern Europe and Siberia, and is found in winter in 

 China, India and in the Mediterranean countries. The nest is placed on a tuft of 

 grass in a bog. The eggs are four in number, and are dark in colour, varying from 

 pinkish-brown to stone or olive-gre}', blotched and spotted with chocolate-brown 

 and gre}' ; tlieir length is about an inch-and-a-quarter to nearly an inch-and-a-half. 



The Snipes and the Woodcocks can be told by the position of 



T H P 



the eve, which is placed so far back in the head that the opening 

 GREAT SNIPE. . " . ■ r , 



„ ... . , cit the ear is lust below the hinder margin oi the e\'e. Snipes 



\Ualiina^n major) - , * r 



may be distinguished 

 from Woodcocks b}' 

 the markings on the 

 head being linear, and 

 not transverse, and 

 there are no bars on 

 the primary quills. 



The Great Snipe 

 has the outer tail- 

 coverts white, without 

 bars, and the wing- 

 coverts have con- 

 spicuous white tips. 

 It has also sixteen 

 tail-feathers instead of 



The Common Snipe. 



The Great Snipe. 



