442 SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nest is not easy to find, being generally placed 

 in a depression in the ground in a marsh, surrounded by heath, bog-myrtle, or 

 grass. At times, however, like the green-sandpiper, it will breed in the old nest of 

 some other bird, such as the fieldfare, or great grey-shrike, at a fair height above the 

 ground. The share of the parents in building is not recorded, and there is only 

 a scanty lining of bents and leaves. The eggs are pyriform in shape, placed like 

 those of allied species, and normally four in number. The ground-colour varies 

 from greenish white to pale green or stone colour, richly spotted and blotched 

 with deep sepia or chocolate-brown and underlying ashy grey shellmarks, the 

 markings tending to congregate towards the big end. (PL L.) Average size of 69 

 eggs, 1*51 x 1'04 in. [38'5 x 26'4 mm.]. The duration of the incubation period is not 

 certainly known, and though estimated by Naumann at 14 to 16 days, more pro- 

 bably extends to about three weeks. It is evident that both sexes take part in incuba- 

 tion, for though the male is frequently to be seen circling in the air over where his 

 mate is sitting, on several occasions male birds have been shot from the eggs, and 

 both sexes have brooding-spots. In Holland full clutches may be found from 

 May llth onward, and in Germany a week or so later, but in the north of Europe 

 rarely before the end of May or early June. Only one brood is reared during the 

 season. [F. c. B. j.] 



5. Food. Insects of various kinds and their larvae, worms, and small 

 molluscs. Like the green-sandpiper, has a strong and lasting odour. No definite 

 information is available as to the food of the young, but it probably does not differ 

 much from that of other members of the genus, [w. F.] 



GREEN-SANDPIPER \T6tanus ocrophus (Linnaeus). 1 Martin-snipe 

 (Norfolk). French, chevalier cul-blanc ; German, punktierten Wasserldufer ; 

 Italian, piro-piro culbianco], 



I. Description. The green-sandpiper may be distinguished from the wood- 

 sandpiper at a glance by its larger size, bronze-green upper surface, and the sooty 

 black colour of the under wing and axillaries, which last are barred with white. 

 The sexes are alike, and there is a slight seasonal coloration. (PL 128.) Length 

 9*5 in [241 '30 mm.]. The adult has the upper parts of a dark bronze-green, con- 

 spicuously striated on the crown, neck, and fore-breast with white. The mantle 

 and long inner secondaries are thickly spotted with small white spots, while the 

 1 The spelling has been altered to ochropus by many writers. 



