Sandpipers.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



23 



little elevated above the surrounding marsn, to 

 which, as to a common centre, numbers are gradu- 

 ally drawn. Each individual selects its own station 

 or little territory, for the possession of which it 

 strenuously contends ; the attempt of a rival to 

 encroach upon the circle is immediately followed 

 by a hard-fought battle, the territory bemg ceded 

 by the vanquished to the victor. These battles and 

 contests are almost incessant, at least during the 

 day ; for at night they all return to the marsh in 

 order to feed (in this respect their habits being noc- 

 turnal), but in the morning each resumes its station, 

 and the contests are again carried on. Here, full of 

 animosity against each other, and jealous of each 

 other's rights, they await the arrival of the females. 

 The arrival on the hill of one of the other sex is the 

 signal for a general contest. The scene is now one 

 of perpetual warfare, female after female arriving 

 at the hill, so that " the theatre of these battles," 

 as Selby observes, " soon becomes bare of grass from 

 the constant traversing of the combatants." Not 

 only have the neck and ear plumes now attained 

 their perfection, but the face of the male becomes 

 covered with small yellowish papillae, or fleshy ex- 

 crescences, instead of the short feathers with which 

 it is ordinarily clothed. During the whole of May 

 and the early part of June this scene of warfare 

 continues with unabated energy. The manner in 

 which the ruff fights has much resemblance to that 

 of the game cock; the head is lowered, the plumes 

 are thrown up iuto a disc, the tail is expanded, and 

 each adversary attempts to seize the other with his 

 bill, following up his advantage by a blow with the 

 wing. The contest is seldom fatal, the vanquished 

 being rather wearied out and dispirited by the 

 superior strength and determination of his antago- 

 nist, than seriously injured. Towards the latter part 

 of June this combativeness abates, the papillae on 

 the face disappear, and shortly aiterwards the fine 

 plumes are moulted off, their place being supplied 

 by ordinary feathers. (Fig. 1860.) 



The females, or Reeves, which, as we nave inti- 

 mated, only visit the hill at intervals, breed among 

 the swamps. The nest consists of little more than 

 a slight depression amidst a tuft of grass, rushes, or 

 other herbage. The eggs are four in number, and 

 closely resemble those of the snipe, but are some- 

 what larger. In the group of Grallatorial birds, to 

 which the present species belongs, the females usu- 

 ally exceed the males in size ; here, however, the 

 females are much smaller than the males, and more- 

 over undergo no corresponding changes of plumage. 

 With respect to the beautiful plumes which for a 

 season ornament the ruff, one circumstance is very 

 remarkable — namely, the diversity of their colour- 

 ing : in no two examples is the colour precisely alike. 

 We have seen them pure white ; white elegantly 

 barred with black ; reddish brown intermixed with 

 black, or barred and spotted ; pure glossy black ; 

 grey and black, &c. It appears, moreover, that in 

 no individual are these colours the same for any two 

 seasons. 



The ruff is among the list of birds whose flesh is 

 accounted as a delicacy for the table ; and consi- 

 derable profit is made by various fowlers in the fens 

 of Lincolnshire, who devote themselves at certain 

 seasons of the year to the business of catching them 

 and feeding them for sale. The means employed foi 

 taking them are chiefly clap-nets, into which they 

 are lured by various devices, one of which is a 

 stuffed bird of their own species. The seasons for 

 taking them are, first, April and May, when the 

 males are hilling, and pugnacious in the extreme ; 

 and, secondly, September, after the young are fully 

 fledged and ready for the autumnal migration, when 

 they, with the old birds, pass to more southern lati- 

 tudes. Their natural food consists of worms, small 

 insects, &c., with which the soft ooze or mud of the 

 marsh abounds ; but they are easily reconciled to a 

 change of diet, and feed eagerly upon bread and 

 milk, boiled wheat, and other articles of a farina- 

 ceous quality, upon which they thrive and become 

 plump. Captivity, which subdues the spirit of most 

 wild creatures, does not abate the pugnacity of the 

 full-plumed males taken in the spring. Not only 

 will the appearance of a reeve excite them to strife, 

 but a bowl of food set before them will produce the 

 same etfect, and lead to a tumultuous conflict, which, 

 as the arena is very limited, and the weaker have 

 no chance of escape, is sometimes known to result 

 in fatal consequences. 



Of the variable colour of the neck and ear plumes 

 we have already spoken. The rest of the colouring 

 may be thus described :— The upper parts of the 

 body are varied with a mixture of brown, pale yellow, 

 and black ; the sides of the chests and flanks are 

 barred with black on a pale yellow giound ; the 

 under surface is white. In some individuals these 

 tints are much darker than in others. 



The reeve in summer has the upper surface varied 

 with glossy black on a cinereous grey ground ; in 

 winter the colour becomes more uniform, losing the 

 markings of black. 



1862.— The Knot 



{Tringa canutus). Tringa cinerea, Temm. ; Cali- 

 dris Islandica, Stephens ; Heccasseau Canut, Temm. ; 

 Aberdeen Sandpiper, Pennant ; Red Sandpiper, La- 

 tham. 



The birds belonging to the genus Tringa (in- 

 cluding Calidris and Pelidna) form a numerous 

 assemblage, chiefly tenanting saline marshes and 

 the shore of the sea, though some frequent the 

 margin of lakes and rivers at a distance from the 

 borders of the ocean. They associate in flocks, and 

 perform periodical migrations in large bodies. They 

 undergo a double annual moult, the summer livery 

 differing remarkably from that of the winter ; and 

 the young, previous to the first moult, have a very 

 different plumage from that of the adults. The food 

 consists of worms, Crustacea, and small mollusks, 

 obtained on the shores of the ocean during the 

 recession of the tide, and as the bill is not so highly 

 sensitive nor so well adapted lor plunging deep into 

 the mud as in the snipes, they chiefly pick up their 

 prev on the surface. 



' The Knot (Mvuibechegrise of the French ; Chiurlo 

 of the Italians; Aschgiaus Strandlaufer of the Ger- 

 mans ; y Cnut of the ancient British) is a rare bird 

 in Germany, France, and the south of Europe ; it 

 breeds in the high northern latitudes of Europe and 

 America, viz., Iceland, Greenland, North Georgian 

 Islands, Melville Peninsula, Hudson's Bay, and the 

 higher districts of Sweden and Norway. In autumn 

 it visits Holland and the British Islands in great 

 numbers, frequenting the shores of the sea, bays, 

 inlets, and the mouths of rivers, where oozy grounds 

 and muddy flats present an abundance of the minute 

 bivalve shell-fish which constitute its principal food. 

 The evolutions of the flocks on the wing are very 

 interestine: and beautiful. The flesh of this bird is 

 in high estimation. About the close of April the 

 flocks desert our shores for their arctic breeding- 

 places. The Knot lays four eggs on a tuft of grass 

 or herbage, without forming any nest ; their colour 

 is lisrht yellowish brown, spotted at the larger end 

 with grey and reddish. 



In summer the plumage of the knot is rufous, or 

 orange-brown varied with black, and with white 

 edgings to the wing coverts : in winter it is changed 

 to a brownish grey, the wing-coverts margined with 

 white ; the under parts pure white, with brown lines 

 on the breast, and transverse bars on the flanks, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts, which are white. 

 Length ten inches. The upper figure represents 

 the knot in summer plumage ; the lower, in winter 

 plumage. 



1863. — The Little Sandpiper 



(Tringa minuta). Minute Dunlin, Stephens ; Little 

 Stint, Bewick ; Pigmy Sandpiper, Richardson ; 

 Becasseau Echasses, Temminck ; Gambeccio of the 

 Italians; der Hochbeinige Strandlaufer of the Ger- 

 mans ; y Pibidd lleiaf of the Welsh. 



The Stint, or Little Sandpiper, is, with the excep- 

 tion of the Tringa Temminckii, the smallest of the 

 genus. It visits our shores in autumn, frequenting 

 mudbanks and saline marshes, and is often seen in 

 the great morasses of Holland ; it is common on the 

 shores of the Lake of Geneva ; it is found in India, 

 North Africa, Southwestern Asia, and the south of 

 Europe, and must also be included among the birds 

 of North America. Dr. Richardson saw numbers in 

 autumn feeding during the recess of the tide on the 

 extensive flats at the mouth of Nelson's and Haye's 

 rivers ; and a specimen from Hudson's Bay is now in 

 the British Museum. Where this species retires to 

 breed is not ascertained ; probably the north-eastern 

 partsof Europe, Northern Asia, and the highlatitudes 

 of North America off'er it a summer abode. The tran- 

 sitions it undergoes in the colouring of its plumage 

 are similar to those of the Knot. 



The upper figure is a bird in summer plumage ; 

 the lower figure to the left, the same in winter 

 plumage ; the lower figure to the right, the young 

 of the year. 



1864. — The Dunlin or Purre 



(Tringa variabilis). Tringa Alpina, Fleming; Pe- 

 lidna variabilis, Stephens ; Pelidna Cinclus, Cuvier; 

 Tringa cinclus (winter plumage), Linn. ; L'Alouette 

 de mer i Collier, Cuv. ; Becasseau Brunette ou 

 variable, Temminck ; L'Alouette de Mer, Buffon ; 

 Tringa ruficollis, Pallas 



The Dunlin is widely spread, being common over 

 Europe, a great part of Asia, and North America. 

 It is indigenous in Scotland, where it breeds upon 

 the shingle at the mouths of rivers, among salt 

 marshes near the coast, and in the bogs of the 

 upland country. Its nest resembles that of the 

 snipe. The eggs, four in number, are of a greenish 

 grey spotted with brown. In autumn vast flocks 

 from the high northern regions visit the shores of 

 our island, where, as they sweep along, they perform 

 singular evolutions, every individual, as if by some 

 signal of command, simultaneously showing now the 



upper, now the under surface, which glance alter- 

 nately, producing a singular and pleasing etfect. 

 Sandy bays and oozy shores are their favourite resort ; 

 and they run with great celerity and withasprijchtly 

 carriage, often uttering a soft piping note while 

 busily engaged in search of food, when in motion, 

 they are in the constant habit of moving the tail up 

 and down. Marine insects, worms, Crustacea, and 

 minute shell-fish constitute their diet. On the wing 

 they utter a weak scream. Their flight is easy and 

 rajjid. Summer Plumage : — Upper parts black, each 

 feather being deeply margined with clear reddish 

 brown ; lower part of back brownish black ; wing- 

 coverts brown margined with grey ; crown of head 

 black; chin while; cheeks, throat, and breast black, 

 each feather deeply margined with white ; under 

 parts black ; flanks streaked with black. In winter 

 the general tone of the upper parts of the plumage 

 is ashy grey with a tinge of brown ; chin and throat 

 white ; breast grey, with the shaft 6f each feather 

 brown ; under parts wlfite ; wing-cove.'-ts brown 

 margined with grey ; the larger coverts tipped with 

 white ; two middle tail-feathei-s brown, the rest 

 grey 



1865. — The Marsh Sandpiper 



( Totanus stagnatilis). This species, which is closely 

 allied to the Green Sandpiper, the Redshanlis, &c., 

 is a native of Northern Europe, where it frequents 

 the borders of rivers, lakes, and marshes, whence in 

 the autumn it migrates southwards, pursuing its 

 course through the eastern provinces to the Medi- 

 terranean, but does not frequent the maritime coasts 

 of the ocean. It is abundant in Asia, and specimens 

 killed in winter plumage have been received, accord- 

 ing to Temminck, from the isles of Timor, Sunda, 

 and New Guinea. The beak is long, weak, and awl- 

 shaped, and its legs are elongated and slender. In 

 summer its upper plumage is brown, with irregular 

 black dashes ; the under parts white, with brown 

 specks on the throat and breast ; tail striped diago- 

 nally with brown bands. In winter the upper surface 

 is of a nearly uniform ashy grey ; the under parts 

 white ; legs olive-green. Length about nine inches. 



1866.— The Willet 



(Catoptrophorus semipalmatxts, Bonap.). Totanus 

 semipalraatus, Latham and Wilson. 



This species, separated as the type of a distinct 

 genus, in consequence of the partial webs uiiiting 

 the three anterior toes, is a native of America, and 

 is only of accidental occurrence in Europe. " It 

 arrives from the south, on the shores of the Middle 

 States, about the 20th of April, and from that time 

 to the last of July its loud shrill reiterations of 

 pill-wiU-willet resound almost incessantly along the 

 marshes. Like the other sandpipers, it breeds on 

 the ground among the salt marshes near the coast, 

 arranging a rude nest of rushes and coarse grass. 

 The eggs are four in number, of greenish or bluish 

 tinge blotched with blackish brown. The young 

 are covered with grey down, and run about as soon 

 as excluded from the shell, under the anxious care 

 of the parents, who defend them much in the man- 

 ner of our common lapwing, flying round the head 

 of the intruder, and uttering a continued cry. When 

 wounded, these birds take to the water, without 

 hesitation, and swim with considerable facility. 

 Small shell-fish, aquatic insects, &c., which the 

 muddy shores afford in abundance, constitute their 

 food. Summer Plumage :— Upper parts dark olive- 

 brown streaked and crossed with waving marks of 

 black, and sprinkled with touches of dull yellowish 

 white ; wing-coverts light olive-ash, with whitish 

 freckles ; primaries white at the base, black for the 

 rest of their length ; tail-coverts white barred with 

 olive; tail olive barred with black; breast cream- 

 white mottled with olive ; under parts white ; legs 

 pale lead-colour. Length fifteen inches. In winter 

 the plumage above is pale dun streaked with dark 

 brown ; the tail white. At this season the willet 

 associates in large flocks, and, being accounted 

 excellent for the table, aft'ords sport to the gunner. 

 The female is generally larger than the male. In 

 October and November the flocks leave the coasts 

 of the Middle States for a more southern climate. 



Family RECURVIROSTRID^ (AVOCETS). 



The Prince of Canino divides the Avocets and 

 Stilt-Plovers from the rest of the Waders, into a dis- 

 tinct family group. 



1867, 1868. — The Black-winged Stilt-Plover 

 (Himantoprts melanoptenis). Charadrius himan- 

 topus. Linn. ; H. rufipes, Bechst. ; H. atroptenis, 

 Meyer; I'Echasse and I'Echasse ii manteau noir 

 of the French ; Cavaliere grande Italiano of the 

 Italians; Schwarzfliigeliche Strandreuter of the 

 Germans ; Long-legged Plover and Long-shanks, 

 English ; Cwttyn hlrgoes of the Welsh. 



The members of the genus Himantopus are re- 

 markable for the extreme length and slenderness of 

 the legs ; they are not numerous, but are distributed 



