508 SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



other Waders, and that it comes nearest to that of the common-sand- 

 piper. He renders it "gif, gif, giff? or " jiff, jiff, jiff? repeated three 

 to six times on the run. The spring song he syllables " titerle-titerle" 

 and " tilidl, tilidl, tilidl" V. Droste quoted by Naumann renders the 

 call-note " tschititit" and describes it as resembling the twittering of 

 house-martins, especially when the birds are in flocks. He also gives 

 a rendering of the song, " hit, hit, hit, ilia, tlia ilia ilia " the accent on 

 the"i; M The same authority states that the earliest arrivals sing in 

 late summer on returning from their breeding quarters. 1 



The alarm-note of the green-sandpiper is likened by Professor 

 Patten to that of the common-sandpiper, but fuller, often doubled, 

 and more song-like, " tm tlu tlu tin ttu" This may be the same as See- 

 bohm's " tye- tye ty$" 2 and Dresser's " dlee-dlee-dlee." 3 When alarmed it 

 is said to utter a loud excited " iyuk tyi'ik tyiik" 4 With plenty of imagina- 

 tion these various renderings may be made to agree fairly well. At 

 the risk of making confusion worse confounded I will add some 

 renderings by Ziemer, as quoted by Naumann, because it seems to me 

 probable that they are the most lifelike. He says that when first 

 surprised, the green-sandpiper rises with an alarm-note " sik-sik." 

 Ziemer, who I understand to dissent from the general opinion that 

 the green-sandpiper is a very shy species says they quickly regain 

 confidence, and either by way of a song or a scolding-note to their 

 disturber break out into "sih sih sih sik s'ik sik sik-sih-sik-sik-sik" and 

 more especially in the evening " dliiidlui-dlui." The latter is not unlike 

 a rendering by Christoleit, also quoted by Naumann, which runs 

 " tittittititluidieh-ludieh tiiluidie " repeated several times. 



In their feeding habits these two sandpipers resemble the less 

 specialised of their relatives, that is, they feed both on the surface 

 and by boring for worms and small crustaceans. Both species are 

 fond of perching on rails and the branches of trees. They are 



1 Vogel Mitteleuropas, ix. p. 39. 



2 Seebohra, British Birds, iii. p. 128. 



3 Dresser, Birds of Europe, viii. p. 140. 



4 Seebohm, op. cit., p. 128. 



