THE COMMON SANDPIPER. 65 



Dray ton says : 



" The buzzin bittern sits, which through his hollow bill 

 A sudden bellowing sends, which many times doth fill 

 The neighbouring marsh with noise as though a bull did roare." 



Others have supposed the noise was made by the bird 

 thrusting his bill into a reed and blowing through it. 

 Thus Dryden : 



"Then to the water's brink she laid her head, 

 And as a bittern bumps within a reed." 



The bird has a very beautiful plumage brownish- buff, 

 crossed with brownish-black lines, head and nape of neck 

 darker brown, beak greenish-yellow, eye yellow-green, legs 

 and feet yellow-green. 



THE COMMON SANDPIPER. 



In strolling along the banks of a river or shores of a 

 lake a small brownish bird will often be perceived running 

 along the sandy margin, or starting in short, jerky flights 

 from under a stone or the shelving bank, uttering his short 



THE COMMON SANDPIPER. 



note, Wheet-wheet-wheet, as he skims along. This is the 

 COMMON SANDPIPER (Tetanus hypoleucos) family, Scolopa- 

 cidceinore generally known in the south of England as 

 the Summer Snipe (but it must not be confounded with the 



