160 THE BIEDS OP OXFORDSHIEE. 



wind frequently breaking- over them when they ventured 

 down the stones to the water's edge, I observed one draw out 

 a worm from the turf with the exercise of some force, after 

 the fashion of a Thrush. The Sandpiper always utters its cry 

 on the wing, and the course of its flight is invariably along 

 the middle of the stream, following its windings ; when 

 flushed from the banks of a sheet of water, it flies out a short 

 distance before pursuing* a course parallel to the shore. 



The only instance of the Sandpiper visiting Oxon between 

 September and the third week in April, of which I have had 

 notice; happened in 1888, in which year Mr. W. C. Darbey 

 informed me of two brought to him in the first fortnight of 

 March. 



THE GREEN SAWDPIPEE. \''f^ 



Totanus ochropus. 



The Green Sandpiper is a spring and autumn visitor, 

 occasionally remaining during the winter. On its autumn 

 passage it often reaches us in July, the 19th of that month 

 being the earliest date upon which I have met w4th it. The 

 Messrs. Matthews observed a family of six of these birds, four 

 young fully grown and the two old birds, by the side of a pond 

 at Weston-on-the- Green on the 26th July, 1838; nevertheless, 

 there is no proof of its having bred in this county, or indeed 

 anywhere in Great Britain. Daring August the visits of the 

 Green Sandpiper are more fi'equent, but after the latter part of 

 September it is less often seen, save in exceptional seasons. In 

 1884 many of these birds remained here very late ; I saw five 

 on the mud at Clattercote Reservoir on the 8th November, and 

 a single one at the same place on the 22nd of that month ; one 

 killed by the telegraph wires at Somerton on the 19th was 

 received by me in the flesh, while Mr. W. W. Fowler as late 

 as the 24th December observed two in the Evenlode, at King- 

 ham. In 1879 I ^^^ with one in the Cherwell, at Bodicote, 

 on the 22nd November, during the prevalence of severe frost, 

 with two or three inches of snow on the ground. In February, 



