148 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. XIII. 



but did not succeed in shooting an example of either 

 species. 



Wood sandpipers were common, frequenting the edges of 

 the marshes and the forest tarns. This bird has a similar 

 habit to that of Temminck's stint of elevating its wings when 

 alighting, until they almost meet. There is a likeness also 

 in the song of the two birds. The note of the wood sand- 

 piper is more musical than that of the other species, except 

 the latter one. We shot specimens from the summit of 

 high bare trees sixty-five feet at least from the ground. 



We shot half-a-dozen Terek sandpipers,* the first we had 

 yet seen. The favourite resort of these pretty birds was the 

 grassy margin of the stream before-mentioned, where they 

 fed on the edge of the water and on the shoals of driftwood 

 which lined it in many places. We also came upon them in 

 the marshy ground round some of the forest tarns ; they were 

 extremely tame. Like the wood-sandpiper, they would allow 

 us to come and talk within a few yards of them ; letting us 

 take up a position where, by a little patience, a double shot 

 could be obtained. We thoroughly identified the ruff on the 

 marsh, although we failed to obtain a specimen of it. 



eastwards as far as Kamtchatka. It 

 passes through Europe and North 

 Africa, Turkestan, South Siberia, Mon- 

 golia, North China, and Japan, winter- 

 ing in South Africa, Scinde, India, and 

 South China. In the valley of the 

 Petchora we did not meet with this 

 species farther north than Habariki. 



* The Terek sandpiper (Terekia cine- 

 rea, Guld.) has never been found in the 



British Islands, its breeding-range being 

 apparently confined from Archangel to 

 the Pacific. It is an occasional strag- 

 gler in autumn into Western Europe, 

 and winters in South Africa, India, the 

 islands of the Malay Archipelago, Aus- 

 tralia, China, and Japan. In the valley 

 of the Petchora we did not meet with 

 it above the limit of forest growth. 



