580 SCOLOPACID.E. 



By creeping on my hands and knees, I obtained a good view 

 of them as they walked about on a mud bank, and believe 

 from the duller look of the plumage of some, that they were 

 two old birds with a brood of young ones. They appear to 

 separate soon after their arrival, or to unite for a day or two 

 as fancy leads them." 



The authors of the catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk birds, 

 say, " we cannot positively affirm that this species breeds 

 here, though it seems probable that it sometimes does so, as 

 five Green Sandpipers were constantly found one summer 

 near the old decoy at Levington in Suffolk." Mr. Salmon 

 believes that the Green Sandpiper breeds in Norfolk. It has 

 been killed in Cambridgeshire in May and in August. The 

 specimen from which the figure at the head of this subject 

 was drawn, was given me by my friend Thomas Wortham, 

 Esq. of Royston, who shot it at Bassingbourne Spring in 

 Cambridgeshire, a favorite locality, where several other ex- 

 amples have been killed. The bird is seen in these eastern 

 counties throughout the winter. 



Mr. Blyth considers that the Green Sandpiper breeds in 

 Surrey, having seen a very young one shot near Godalming 

 with its primary quill-feathers incompletely developed. The 

 same observer saw both adult birds and young broods of three 

 or four birds each in the first week of August 1837, frequent- 

 ing muddy water courses on a small salt-water marsh near 

 Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight, and has known one speci- 

 men to have been killed in February. It is not uncommon 

 along the whole line of the southern marine counties from 

 Romney Marsh in Kent, to Sussex, Hampshire, and thence 

 to the Land's End. Mr. Edward Doubleday saw several 

 pairs about small streams in the vicinity of Snowdon, in sum- 

 mer, and tAvo pair were observed near Capel Carig. This 

 bird is a summer visiter to Ireland, and specimens are to be 

 seen in several collections. John Skaife, Esq. of Blackburn 



