94 



PLOVER GROUP 



Arctic Circle. By the }'ouiig sportsman the sandpiper is often mis- 

 taken for a snipe ; and, except when collected in family parties, is by 

 no means easy of approach, being constantly on the move and keep- 

 ing itself well beyond range. Its rapid movements, accompanied by 

 incessant oscillations of the short tail, as it runs over mud-flats or 

 along the borders of lakes, ponds, and rivers, are, indeed, so familiar 

 as to require no description ; while its crj- of ivJiit — Ti'/z/V — n'hity uttered 

 every time of rising in short jerky flight, is likewise well known to all 

 who have visited the haunts of the species. It is perhaps less well 

 known that the sandpiper is an excellent swimmer, although it seldom 

 practises this mode of locomotion. Its food consists principally of 

 worms, insects, and such like. The nest is merely a rude structure of 

 moss and leaves placed as a rule on the sloping banks of inland fresh 

 waters, either in a hollow or a hole, and generally beneath the protect- 

 ing shelter of a tussock of grass or rushes, although a cornfield near 

 water may be the site. The four eggs, which are generally laid in 

 May and vary in length from rather more than an inch and a quarter 

 to just over an inch and a half, range from cream to pinkish buff in 

 colour, with chocolate-brown spots and blotches, generally evenly dis- 

 tributed, and underlying markings of purplish gre\'. 



In summer-dress, the sandpiper, which measures 7^ inches in length, 

 has the upper-parts brownish grey glossed with bronze reflections, and 

 barred with delicate wav)- lines of black changing to bars on the 

 scapulars and inner secondaries ; the wing-coverts are barred with 



black and tinged with grey, ex- 

 cept the greater ones, which are 

 broadly tipped with white and 

 ^ barred with black, as are the 



three inner pairs of tail-feathers ; 

 and the under- parts are white. 

 The dark markings disappear 

 in winter. Young birds in their 

 first plumage have the upper- 

 parts freckled with cross-bars of 

 reddish buff and brown. The 

 downy chick is pale grey 

 mottled above with black and 

 with the under-parts white. 

 Closely allied to the present species is the spotted sandpiper, or 

 American suinmer-snipe, Toiajtus [or Tringoidcs'] vuicularius, but as 

 only half-a-d(j/.en genuine instances of its occurrence in our islands 



MC ROWLAND WARD STuDlOS 



SPOTTKD SANDI'IPKK. 



