COMMON SANDPIPER. 119 



wings, folding them in a few moments. Sometimes it flies so close to the 

 water that its wings strike the surface and leave a long succession of rings 

 marking its course. 



Few birds are more attached to their haunts than the Common Sandpiper. 

 Regularly every season it appears in them. The same stream will be 

 tenanted, the same favourite stretch of gravel be used for a nesting-site, 

 even though the bird is disturbed and its nest repeatedly robbed. Shortly 

 after their arrival at their breeding-grounds the males are very demon- 

 strative and excessively noisy. In early summer they may often be seen 

 running along the rough stone walls near the water, with drooping wings, 

 as if displaying their charms to the females crouching amongst the 

 herbage below. At this season the cock birds sometimes soar into the air 

 and utter a short trill, as is the case with most other Waders. It is said 

 sometimes to perch on bushes ; and Mr. Carter informs me that he once 

 saw one perched on the top branch of an ash tree thirty feet from the 

 ground. 



The food of the Common Sandpiper is composed largely of worms and 

 insects, with their larvae. It may sometimes be seen searching for beetles 

 amongst the droppings near water where cattle drink, and it also catches 

 many insects as they flit past, as well as takes them from the water or the 

 stems of plants. It is very possible that it also eats mountain-fruits, such 

 as bilberries, and small bits of gravel are generally found in its gizzard. 



The breeding-season of the Common Sandpiper commences in May, and 

 fresh eggs may be found almost all through that month, the birds in Scot- 

 land breeding a little later than those in the south of England. It is 

 possible that this bird pairs for life, for season after season its eggs may 

 be found in one particular spot. The nest is rarely very far from the 

 water's edge, and several pairs of birds often breed on the banks of one 

 small piece of water, or at irregular intervals not far from the stream. A 

 favourite situation is on the sandy banks, which are carpeted with coarse 

 grass, or amongst the herbage on the higher land near the water. 

 Another very favourite situation is a little stretch of sand and gravel at 

 some distance from the water, strewed with large stones and tufts of 

 heather and bilberry. It is usually protected on one side at least by a 

 little bush or tuft of herbage. Mr. Gray has found the nest in turnip- 

 fields, snugly hidden under the broad leaves, and in gardens and orchards 

 beneath the shelter of plants. It sometimes nests at some distance from 

 water; and Mr. Carter has informed me that at Masham it frequently 

 builds in the woods on the banks of the river as much as two hundred 

 yards from the stream. The nest is very simple, a little hollow scratched 

 in the ground, and lined with a few bits of dry grass, scraps of heather, 

 dead leaves, orbits of withered rush. In this slight cradle the female lays 

 four eggs, very large in comparison with the size of the bird. They vary 



