SCOLOPACID.t. 



593 





THE WOOD-SANDPIPER. 

 ToTANUs GLAREOLA (J. F. Guielin). 



This bird is by no means so regular in its visits as the next 

 species, with which it was formerly confounded, and the main body 

 of migrants hardly reaches our shores ; but in autumn small flocks 

 — consisting almost invariably of young — are met with on the east 

 side of England, and in less numbers in the south, as well as in 

 muddy situations far inland. In Cornwall examples also occur on 

 the vernal passage, having been noticed there as early as April 15th, 

 and a kw adults alight in East Anglia in spring, while on June 3rd 

 1853 Mr, John Hancock obtained a male bird, nest and eggs on 

 the now drained Prestwick Car, in Northumberland, which was 

 probably a regular breeding-place in former years. In Scotland it 

 appears to have been obtained in Mid-Lothian and Aberdeenshire, 

 and Mr. Bond received eggs which he considered to be well-authen- 

 ticated from the vicinity of Elgin, but on the west coast only one 

 occurrence — on the banks of the Clyde — is substantiated. Along 

 that side of England also the bird is very rare, even in such con- 

 genial situations as the flat shores of the Solway and of Lancashire ; 

 in Ireland the first — and up to the present time the only — specimen 

 was shot in co. Wicklow on August 23rd 1SS5. 



The Wood-Sandpiper is only a wanderer to the Fceroes, but 

 during the summer it is one of the commonest waders in Northern 

 Europe, breeding down to the valley of the Danube, and probably 

 in some parts of North Italy, while on May sSth 1S70 I shot a 



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