592 COMMON SANDPIPER. 



barrier at an elevation of 17,000 ft. and even breeding in the Hima- 

 layas ; its winter-range extending over the Indian, Malayan and 

 Australian regions, down to Tasmania. 



The nest, which is often a tolerably firm structure of grass, dry 

 leaves, bits of rush &c, is generally placed under the shelter of a 

 tuft of herbage or of the broad leaves of the butter-burr ; near fresh 

 water, or on the shingle of some islet ; sometimes on the bare rock. 

 The eggs, 4 in number, are usually reddish-white, rather minutely 

 spotted with two shades of brown, but occasionally the ground- 

 colour is pale bluish : average measurements 1*45 by i in. Incuba- 

 tion commences by the middle of May, but fresh eggs may be 

 found nearly a month later ; while every stratagem is tried by the 

 female to divert attention from her nest or young, though the latter 

 can run as soon as they are hatched and show great aptitude in 

 concealing themselves. When on the ground, this bird is in con- 

 stant motion, flirting the tail up and down, or stretching out and 

 withdrawing the head and neck : it also often alights on fences 

 and bushes, and swims well. In spring it rises in the air, trilling a 

 pleasing song, but the usual note is a piping lahecf, wheef, jvheet. 

 The food consists of worms and insects. 



The adult in summer has the upper parts of a bronze-brown, 

 minutely flecked and barred with umber ; outer pairs of tail-feathers 

 tipped with white and barred with black, the rest chiefly bronze- 

 brown ; chin white ; sides of the neck and breast pale ash with 

 dusky streaks; under parts white. Length 8 in.; wing 4*25 in. 

 After the autumn moult the upper parts are more uniform in colour. 

 The young have the upper feathers margined with buff, and no 

 dark streaks down the middle of the throat. 



The American Spotted Sandpiper, T. niaailarius, was allowed to 

 retain its place as a British bird in the 4th Ed. of ' Yarrell,' because, 

 among the numerous recorded instances of its occurrence, there 

 were just two which could not with certainty be attributed to igno- 

 rance or fraud. Until some trustworthy person can produce a 

 specimen which he has shot, I think that the species has no claim to 

 be considered as one of our visitors ; and credulous collectors of 

 ' British-killed ' specimens will do well to read the investigations of 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney jun. in his 'Rambles of a Naturalist,' p. 255, or 

 the amusing exposure of a dealer's tricks in Mr. C. M. Adamson's 

 ' More Scraps about Birds,' p. 263. The American bird has all the 

 secondaries broadly barred with ash-brown, while in the Common 

 Sandpiper the 8th and 9th are nearly white. 



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