OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 217 



Family CHAEADEIID^E. Genus HELODROMAS. 



Subfamily TOTANINJI. 



GREEN SANDPIPER. 



HELODEOMAS OCHEOPUS (Linnatus) . 



Tringa ochropus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 250 (1766). 



Totanus ochropus (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 342 (1852) ; Dresser, B. Bur. viii. 

 p. 135, pi. 564 (1875) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4. iii. p. 457 (1883) ; Seebohm, Hist. 

 Brit. B. iii. p. 126 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xxvi. (1893) ; Dixon, Nests 

 and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 248 (1894) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. 

 p. 137, pi. 42 (1896). 



Helodromas ochropus (Linn.), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 290 (1896) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 437 (1896). 



Geographical distribution British: The Green Sandpiper occurs 

 not unfrequently on spring and autumn migration in our islands, a few remaining 

 over the summer, and a few lagging behind the rest in winter. It becomes rarer 

 in the nothern and western parts of Scotland, whilst in the west of Ireland it is 

 even rarer still. It is not yet recorded from the Hebrides nor from the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands. It may possibly breed in Norfolk, Yorkshire, Sussex, and else- 

 where, but hitherto it has not absolutely been detected doing so. On the other 

 hand, the birds lingering behind in spring may be immature and non-breeding 

 ones. Foreign : Palaaarctic region ; Ethiopian and Oriental regions in winter. 

 It breeds in the forest swamps from about the latitude of the Arctic circle from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific. It passes Central Europe on migration, but numbers 

 find a suitable climate at high elevations in which to breed, on the Pyrenees, the 

 Alps, the Carpathians, and the Caucasus. Eastwards its southern breeding range 

 is Turkestan, and the South Siberian mountains. Dr. Abbott obtained it at the 

 end of July in Eastern Turkestan at an elevation of 13,000 feet. The European 

 birds winter in the basin of the Mediterranean, and in the African portion of the 

 Intertropical realm ; whilst those breeding in Northern Asia pass that season in 

 Arabia (where it occurs in immense flocks), Persia, India, Ceylon, Burmah, China, 

 and Japan. There can be little doubt, if this bird visits South Africa normally, 

 that it actually breeds there, its unusual mode of nesting contributing to the fact 

 being undetected. 



