Descriptive List of the Common Birds 



ment which cannot be made regarding the 

 snipe. If you see a snipe-Hke bird feeding, 

 you may be perfectly sure that it is not a 

 snipe. It is a sandpiper of sorts, but it is not 

 by any means easy to say which of the many 

 sandpipers without shooting it. Descriptions 

 of the common species of sandpiper follow : — 



192. Totanus hypoleucus : The Common 

 Sandpiper. (F. 1460), (J. 893), ( + 11, but 

 with a very short tail, so that it actually 

 measures less than a bulbul.) 



It is a greenish-brown bird with white 

 under parts. Its legs are not long for a wader ; 

 its bill is about an inch long. It goes about in 

 ones or twos (never in flocks), picking up in- 

 sects on the water's edge. When disturbed it 

 flies away, and then its wings, which are 

 pointed, show a very narrow white band. By 

 this you may recognise the species. It flies 

 low, and as Eha remarks, with its wings bent 

 like a bow. When it settles down it wags its 

 apology for a tail in wagtail-like manner. 

 (Illus. B. B., p. 168.) 



193. Totanus glareola : The Wood Sand- 

 piper, or Spotted Sandpiper. (F. 1461), (J. 

 891), ( + 11, but with a very short tail.) 



The upper plumage of this is dark brown 

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