594 \VOO])-SAXDPIPER. 



female which had evidently been incubating, on the edge of a 

 wooded marsh near Aranjuez in Central Spain. Over the rest of 

 the Continent it is well known on passage, it winters down to the 

 Cape in Africa, and throughout the entire Indian region, while its 

 breeding-range in Asia stretches from the great mountain-ranges 

 northward to the Taimyr, and eastward to Kamschatka. 



Observers of the Wood-Sandpiper in its haunts agree in stating 

 that the nest is rarely to be found without difficulty, being well 

 concealed in some depression on tolerably dry ground, though 

 not far from water, and being usually amongst bog-myrtle, stunted 

 heath, sedge, or other coarse vegetation. The eggs, 4 in number, are 

 often pale green in ground-colour, though sometimes buffish-white, 

 and are speckled and blotched with reddish-brown, especially at the 

 broader end : average measurements i"5 by i in. Incubation 

 begins about the middle of May in Holland, though later in the 

 north ; the male indulging in ' play ' similar to that of the Common 

 Sandpiper during courtship, and uttering a tremulous note, leero^ 

 hero ; but when alarmed the cry is a sharp git)\ giff. Like its con- 

 gener, this bird often perches on bushes, trees or stakes. It feeds 

 on worms, small molluscs, insects and their larvae, and a disagree- 

 able musky odour often pervades its flesh. 



This species is a little smaller than the Green Sandpiper, but with 

 a proportionately longer tarsus ; and' has the upper parts streaked 

 with olive-brown, the margin of each feather of the mantle show- 

 ing buffish-white spots which are elongated and well defined in the 

 young, smaller and triangular in the adult ; quills dusky, the 02iter 

 one with a -cchitc shaft {not dusky as in the Green Sandpiper); upper 

 tail-coverts white with narrow dark shaft-flecks ; outer tail-feathers 

 white, with bars on both webs in the young and on the outer web 

 only in the adult, the remaining feathers being distinctly barred ; 

 neck, throat and breast dull white, thickly streaked with ash-brown, 

 the flanks being barred with the same colour; axillaries wJiite, 

 merely y^trhed with brown ; abdomen white ; legs and feet yellowish- 

 olive. Length nearly 9 in., wing 5 in. 



Illustrations of the characteristic axillaries and tail-feathers of this 

 and of the Green Sandpiper are given on p. 598. 



