650 SCOLOPACIM. 



were found to be much enlarged. Specimens have been 

 killed in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk ; Mr. "W. 

 R. Fisher has recorded the capture of this species at Yar- 

 mouth ; and Mr. Selby has recorded three instances that 

 have occurred in Durham and Northumberland. Mr. 

 Fisher has figured the young of the Wood Sandpiper, 

 when bearing some of the down which precedes the true 

 feather, in the Zoologist for 1846. A nest with four eggs is 

 recorded to have been found in Prestwick Car by Mr. John 

 Hancock, who shot the female as she rose from the spot. 

 Four examples of this species, as shot near Worthing, in 

 September, 1851, are noticed by Mr. Knox, in his Birds 

 of Sussex. 



Some particulars of the habits of this bird, as observed 

 by the late Mr. Hoy, and communicated to Mr. Hewitson, 

 are thus detailed in his work on the Eggs of our British 

 Birds : " This species is migratory, making its appearance 

 in April, and retiring in September. That it breeds rather 

 early I infer, from having met with the young, feathered, 

 and capable of flying a short distance, on the llth of June. 

 I regret that I did not discover the bird till late in the 

 season." 



A great portion of Dutch Brabant, more particularly 

 the southern and eastern parts, are covered by large tracts 

 of heath ; the soil of a light sandy nature. A great number 

 of peat bogs and shallow pools of water are dispersed over 

 this district. Most of the small streams are skirted by 

 swampy ground, where the bog myrtle grows in the 

 greatest luxuriance, with stunted bushes of alder and 

 willow. These situations are the favourite haunt of this 

 Sandpiper during the breeding season. While the hen 

 bird is sitting, the male flies round in wide circles, and at 

 a considerable elevation. The female sits close; and the 

 nest is extremely difficult to find. 



