SCOLOPACTD.E. 



bird, yet undoubtedly they must have been there, so difficult 

 is it at that period to get them on the wing, and so entirely 

 different from their habits in the spring. They are un- 

 doubtedly numerous, but from their very small size and 

 hiding habits are difficult to be discovered, added to the 

 almost impassable nature of the swamps they frequent. 

 There were several small colonies of them in different parts 

 of the extensive swamp at Fokstuen ; I procured five spe- 

 cimens there, and might have obtained as many more, had I 

 desired it ; I also procured one nest with four eggs in it." 



This account, which was copied in Hewitson's ' Eggs of 

 British Birds,' with figures of the eggs taken by Mr. Dann, 

 was supplemented in the 3rd edition of that work (ii. p. 360) 

 by notes from the late Mr. John Wolley, with illustrations 

 of two remarkably beautiful specimens from the series ob- 

 tained by the latter at Muouiovara, in Lapland ; and since 

 1854, numbers of these once rare eggs have found their way 

 into collections. As already stated, they are often of a deep 

 chocolate-brown, or of a pale brown ground-colour mottled 

 with umber, but they soon fade ; the measurements are 

 about 1*2 by '9 in. Mr. Mitchell, who found it nesting 

 on the Dovrefjeld, says that the lining of the nest is suited 

 to the colour of the eggs ; the darkest ones being laid on 

 the brown withered leaves of the mountain willow, and the 

 lighter ones on grass. 



Mr. Collett says that, when searching for food, the Broad- 

 billed Sandpipers hurry hither and thither, with nodding 

 head and bill pointing obliquely to the ground. If flushed, 

 they will utter a few mellow, flute-like tones, at intervals 

 mingled with a harsher note. From the stomachs he took 

 the remains of insects only, Harpalini, Bembidia, and divers 

 larvae. 



The adult bird, in the breeding-season, has the beak, 

 which is one inch and one-sixteenth in length, dark brown 

 at the point, inclining to reddish-brown at the base ; irides 

 brown ; from the base of the beak to the eye a dark brown 

 streak ; over that and the eye a white streak, with a brown 

 central longitudinal line ; top of the head brownish-black. 



