334 CHARADRIIDA 
character, especially when the bird first rises from the 
marsh. It springs up with great velocity and goes off after 
the fashion of a flushed Snipe. 
Food.—Insects and their grubs, worms, and small shell- 
fish, constitute the diet. The flesh is not palatable and has 
a rather musky odour. 
Voice.—The alarm-note uttered when the bird first takes 
wing, is sharp and clear, and may be syllabled gikk, gif. 
During courtship, a tremulous /ééro, l@éro, may be heard. 
Nest.—The Wood-Sandpiper breeds both on the ground 
and in trees. In the former situation the nest is generally 
built among grasses, heather, and other coarse vegetation 
sufficiently tall to conceal the sitting-bird, and generally at 
no great distance from water. When breeding in trees, the 
nests of other species are utilised, thus on the Yenesei Mr. 
Popham found the eggs in old nests of the Fieldfare 
(‘Ibis, 1897, p. 104). The eggs, four in number, vary in 
eround-colour from a light buff to a pale green tint, spotted 
and blotched with reddish-brown. Incubation begins about 
the middle of May. 
This bird has nested on very exceptional occasions in the 
British Isles. The following instances are on record :—A 
nestling found at Beechamwell, Norfolk (Gurney and Fisher, 
‘ Zoologist,’ 1846) ; a nest and eggs found on Prestwick Car, 
Northumberland, in 1853 (Hewitson, ‘Eggs of British 
Birds,’ 3rd Edition, vol. 11., p. 332); another nest found in 
Elginshire on May 28rd, 1853 (Evans, Ann. Scot. Nat. 
Hist., 1899) p. 44). 
Geographical distribution.—Abroad the Wood-Sandpiper 
breeds over a great area of the European and Asiatic 
Continents, while on migration in autumn and winter it 
reaches as far as South Africa, India, the adjoining Islands, 
and Australia. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.— Top of head, hind- 
neck, back, scapulars, and wings, streaked with greenish- 
brown and spotted with white; primaries, dull brown, the 
outermost with white shafts (vide Green Sandpiper) ; upper 
tail-coverts, white, with their centres dark; outer tail- 
feathers, white, the outer web being barred with brown; 
remaining tail-feathers, entirely barred with brown and 
white ; neck, throat, and breast, impure white with fine 
streaks of ash-brown; flanks, barred similarly; abdomen 
