300 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
small flocks, some species frequenting marshy localities, others dry 
and sandy districts. They are incessantly on the move, running, swim- 
ming, and diving, all of which they perform with equal ease. ‘Their 
food is chiefly worms, insects, fish-spawn, and sometimes even small 
fry and crustacea. Their habits are peaceable and their movements 
easy and graceful. They are gifted with a keen sight, for not even 
the smallest insect can escape their vision. 
The Sandpipers are natives of the northern parts of the Old and 
New World; they visit France twice a year—in spring and autumn, 
Fig. 119. —Redshank. 
They breed in the north, and lay from three to five eggs. The 
extreme delicacy of their flesh causes them to be much sought after 
by epicures ; they are, therefore, captured in every possible way. 
Extinction will probably be the result. To gratify the tastes of the 
gourmand and the bloodthirsty instincts of cruel men, the lovers 
of Nature are destined to be deprived of one of the most innocent 
and beautiful families of Birds. 
_ In France seven species of Sandpipers are known, varying in 
size from that of the sparrow to that of the thrush. They are as 
follows :—The Brown Sandpiper (Zotanus fuscus), the Greenshank 
(Zotanus glottis), the Redshank (Zotanus caledris Fig. 119); the 
