THE SPOTTED SANDPIPER, ETC. 159 



" Skillili, Skillili, yvoddara, yvoddam, 

 Beusaka mone mateu 

 Patta tjyidnita piedja," 



which may be rendered as follows : 



" Skillili, Skillili ! I carry, I carry 

 An egg large as that of a Kipa, 

 So that my tail cocks in the air." 



I have been informed by a Norwegian naturalist that 

 he has pursued this bird in a boat on the Christiania- 

 fjord, and that when he approached, it dived, but find- 

 ing itself unable to remain under on account of the 

 buoyancy of the water, it seized on a piece of seaweed 

 at the bottom with its bill, and held on until the boat 

 had left the spot ! 



The spotted sandpiper (T. macularius) is only an 

 occasional visitor to this country. 



The semi-palmated sandpiper (T. semi-palmatus, 

 Temminck) . This species has been occasionally seen 

 in Sweden and Norway. There is a specimen in the 

 Royal Zoological Museum at Stockholm, called in Swe- 

 den the sndppa med Jialflyckta fotter, or snipe with 

 half- webbed feet. Nilsson says that its home is in 

 North America, where it breeds in the salt-marshes. 

 It places its nest among the coarse grass on the salt- 

 marshes, and lays four large eggs of an olive colour, 

 marked at the larger ends with black-brown spots. 



The greenshank (T. glottis) is common in summer in 

 the Norwegian fjelds, especially in the Dovre-fjeld. It 

 nests in the grass, under a dwarf-birch, and the eggs 

 are so placed that all the small ends point inwards ; 

 they are four in number, and pale olive in colour, 

 marked with black and brown spots. The young birds 

 are fully fledged here by the beginning of July. 



