LIMICOLAi. 



WOOD SANDPIPER. 



463 



SGOLOPACIDM. 





ToTANUs GLAEEOLA (Gmeliii*). 



THE WOOD SANDPIPER. 



Totanus glareola. 



The Wood Sandpiper was first described and figured 

 as a British bird by Colonel Montagu, who clearly pointed 

 out the specific diff'erences between this species and the 

 Green Sandpiper. These birds were considered by some 

 early authors as merely varieties of the same species ; 

 but no doubt now remains that these two Sandpipers are 

 perfectly distinct. The species now under consideration has 

 the greater geographical range of the two, but the British 

 Islands seem to lie to the westward of the migrations of the 

 main body, and its occurrences are not nearly so frequent 

 or so regular as those of its predecessor. It has not as yet 

 been obtained in Ireland, for the statement by the late Mr. 

 R. Ball, that it had been seen for several years, about the 



• Trhiga Glareola, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 677 (1788). 



