198 BRITISH BIRDS. 



mountains it breeds in considerable abundance as far south as lat. 60. 

 There appears to be no foundation for the statement that it has occurred 

 at Archangel. Harvie-Brown and I did not meet with it in the Petchora, 

 but Bogdanow records it from the Volga ; Sabanaeff does not record it 

 from the Ural ; neither did Finsch meet with it in the valley of the Obb. 

 It has not been recorded by any Siberian traveller from the Yenesay ; 

 neither did Middendorff meet with it on the Taimur peninsula. Dybowsky 

 obtained a single example near Lake Baikal ; and Middendorff only met 

 with it on the southern shores of the Sea of Ochotsk. Neither Prjevalsky 

 nor Severtzow met with this species ; but it occasionally occurs on migra- 

 tion on the coasts of Europe and Japan. It winters in the basin of the 

 Mediterranean and North Africa, on the Mekran coast, and the coasts of 

 North India, occasionally straying as far south as Madagascar, Ceylon, and 

 the Andaman Islands. It has also occurred during the cold season in 

 Burma, the Malay peninsula, Java, the Philippine Islands, Formosa, and 

 China. 



The habits of the Broad-billed Sandpiper are only imperfectly known, 

 especially during winter. It is said by Naumann to pass through Germany 

 in small numbers late in April or in May, returning from the north in 

 August and September. It is seen on the coasts of Denmark about the 

 same dates, and occurs very sparingly on Heligoland on migration. During 

 winter the Broad-billed Sandpiper congregates in small parties, sometimes 

 nocking with Dunlins and Stints, but occasionally roaming about alone. In 

 its habits, so far as they are known, it does not appear to differ much from 

 the other Sandpipers. It frequents the coast in winter, running about the 

 sand and mud like a Dunlin, which bird it is said very closely to resemble 

 in its flight. Its food consists principally of insects in summer ; but in 

 winter worms, crustaceans, and other small marine animals are picked up 

 on the shore. 



The Broad-billed Sandpiper was fortunate enough to come under the 

 notice of Wolley, who found it during the breeding-season near Muonioniska 

 in Lapland, and sent an account of his discoveries of its nest to Hewitson, 

 who published it in his ' Eggs of British Birds/ Wolley states that the 

 Broad-billed Sandpiper chooses for its nesting -ground open soft places in 

 the marshes, where little else but bog-moss and sedge can grow, and that 

 the nest is often placed on a low tuft of herbage just rising above the 

 water. He found it weary work exploring the swamps and bogs in search 

 of the eggs of this bird, the plague of mosquitoes and the difficulties of 

 locomotion being quite sufficient to damp the ardour of any one but an 

 enthusiast. He says that the Broad-billed Sandpiper's eggs are laid about 

 the third week in June, "just when the thickest clouds of gnats rise from 

 the water, which is so generally spread over the recently thawed land." 

 He found many empty nests in proportion to those that were occupied : 



