262 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



dissection it proved to be a male. It is a common bird in 

 Java and Sumatra ; its range also extends to India, China and 

 Europe, and probably to North Africa. 



But little has been hitherto recorded respecting its habits : 

 Temminck states that it occm*s accidentally in Europe, lives in 

 Russia, Siberia, the borders of the Caspian Sea, in Japan, 

 Sumatra, and Borneo, and that specimens from the latter 

 island compared with others taken in Normandy and in the 

 environs of Paris do not present the slightest differences ; that 

 it inhabits the borders of rivers, has a sonorous voice, and 

 feeds on worms, insects and small-shelled mollusks. 



The nest according to Pallas is formed of plants, and the 

 eggs are four in number, of a pale olive-yellow marked 

 with spots of reddish brown. 



" This neat-plumaged little Sandpiper," says Mr. Jerdon, 

 " is not very abundant in the South of India, but is met with 

 more frequently towards the north ; it frequents the shores of 

 seas, back-waters, tanks, and rivers, in small flocks. In 

 summer plumage its scapulars become black, edged with 

 brown. It breeds in Northern Asia, laying four pale olive- 

 yellow eggs, with brown spots. It is extensively distributed 

 over Europe and Asia to Australia." — Birds of India^ vol. ii. 

 part ii. p. 683. 



Latham states that in the summer it is numerous in the 

 neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, particularly about the 

 mouth of the River Terek, where it breeds, and that it is 

 usually met with in flocks in the marshes, especially on the 

 borders of the salt lakes. 



Head, all the upper surface, wings and tail pale brown, with 

 a fine line of a darker tint down the centre of each feather ; 

 shoulders and primaries dark brown, with the shaft of the 

 first quill white ; secondaries white ; base of the bill orange- 

 brown, passing into blackish brown at the tip ; irides black ; 

 legs brownish orange, the brown tint predominating on the 

 joints. '" 



