CO.lfMON SANDPIPER. 267 



tall weed on a bare stretch of sandy ground strewn with 

 pebbles. Instances are on record of its being built in 

 gardens and orchards, in turnip-fields and in woods. 

 The nest is merely a hollow scratched out and lined with 

 scraps of dead heath, withered bents, leaves, and some- 

 times dry pine needles. The Common Sandpiper sits 

 closely, especially if the eggs are much incubated, and 

 when flushed reels and tumbles along the ground with 

 apparently broken wings to lure the intruder away. 

 Sometimes, however, the sitting bird slips quietly off 

 the nest, running for a few yards before taking wing, as 

 soon as danger threatens, and then the eggs are dis- 

 covered with difficulty, as they resemble surrounding 

 objects in a very remarkable manner. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Common Sandpiper are four in number, 

 and pyriform in shape. They vary from yellowish-white 

 to pale creamy-buff in ground colour, richly blotched 

 and spotted with pale and dark reddish-brown, and with 

 underlying markings of violet-gray. The markings as 

 a rule are not very large, but are usually most abundant 

 on the larger end of the egg. Average measurement, 

 i"5 inch in length, by ri inch in breadth. Incubation, 

 performed chiefly by the female, lasts about three weeks. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of this species 

 cannot readily be confused with those of any other bird 

 breeding in our islands, their size, buff ground colour, 

 and comparatively small markings being very character- 

 istic. It is, however, impossible to distinguish certain 

 varieties of the eggs of the Wood Sandpiper from those 

 of the present species, but this bird does not now breed 

 in our islands, as will be seen below. 



The Wood Sandpiper {Totamis glareola) having once 

 been known with absolute certainty to breed in our 



