PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 255 



Britain. Arrival takes place in the second half of May, and both old and young 

 appear to leave their summer haunts by August. As regards the rest of the country, 

 it has been said that " occurrences in spring are unusual, and altogether the avoid- 

 ance by this species of the greater part of the British Islands on its passage to 

 and from its summer haunts is somewhat remarkable" (Saunders, III. Man. Brit. 

 Birds, 2nd ed., 1899, p. 567). The number of British-breeding individuals is of 

 course too small to make the species anything but the rarest of migrants along 

 our coasts, but a regular passage of birds from countries farther north might 

 well have been expected. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nest is generally neatly concealed in a tussock 

 of grass or water herbage in a marsh, in some cases as much as a foot above the 

 ground. It is chiefly composed of the stalks and roots of water-plants, and is 

 more frequently found near the side of the water than on the tussocks in the middle. 

 (PL XLIX.) Both sexes take part in building (B. Hantzsch). The eggs are four in 

 number, and are laid with the points inward. They are very handsome, the ground- 

 colour ranging from pale yellowish buff to brownish, occasionally showing a decided 

 green tinge, and very richly blotched and spotted with blackish or deep choco- 

 late, and occasionally a few shellmarks of greyish. Most of the blotches tend to 

 congregate at the blunt end. (PL M.) Average size of 43 eggs, l'lSx'83 in. 

 [29-9 x 21 mm.]. Most, if not all, of the incubation is performed by the male, but 

 no observations on the length of the period appear to have been made, beyond 

 Hantzsch' s statement that it lasts about two weeks. He also notes that the male 

 alone has two brooding spots, but says that the female also takes part. The 

 average date for eggs in Great Britain is about mid-June, but there is considerable 

 variation, even in the same district. In Iceland also the eggs are laid generally 

 in the latter part of June. Probably only a single brood is reared, and late 

 clutches are second or third layings. Kriiper found an almost fresh clutch on 

 July 14 in Iceland. [F. c. E. j.] 



5. Food. In nesting season, aquatic and other insects and their larvae, 

 small worms, and fresh-water crustaceans. At other times, thin-skinned crus- 

 taceans and small forms of marine life generally. The stomach of one bird I 

 examined in October was full of small larvae of a fly, probably one of the species 

 that breed in decayed seaweed and other refuse at high-water mark. Small 

 crabs (Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 266). The young are attended and assisted by 

 both parents in their search for food, but chiefly by the male. Their food consists 

 of insects, mostly aquatic, and their larvae, [w. r.] 



