882 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
Yarrell mentions an instance of a nest having been 
placed on the side of a clay-pit, and Meyer says that 
it breeds on the banks of running streams, where the 
nest is hidden amongst grasses or under overhanging 
bushes or trees: the habit of nesting in trees, would, 
however, appear to be more general than is usually 
supposed. ‘There is a very interesting paper on the 
subject by Mr. Alfred Newton, in the ‘ Zoologist’ 
for 1864, which gives a very full account of the 
nesting habits of these birds. The Green Sand- 
piper appears to be rather more than a summer 
visitor in some counties of England, for Mr. Cor- 
deaux, writing from North Lincolnshire, speaks of 
these birds having returned to their winter haunts, 
the small streams in the neighbourhood.* Yarrell 
also mentions several instances of their having been 
met with during the winter months. 
The food of the Green Sandpiper consists mostly 
of insects and their larve and worms; Meyer adds 
that it never consumes vegetable matter. 
The Green Sandpiper has the beak greenish 
black ; the irides hazel; the space between the beak 
and the eyes is dusky—immediately over this is a 
white streak: the top of the head and back of the 
neck are dull greenish dusky ;+ the back, scapulars, 
* See ‘ Zoologist’ for 1867 (Second Series), p. 547. 
+ In one of my specimens, probably a young bird of the 
year, there are a few dull whitish spots on the top of the head. 
