384 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



on the upper surface are probably more numerous 

 than in the adult. 



Meyer describes the eggs as greenish olive, with 

 very dark markings or spots. 



COMMON SANDPIPER, Totanus hypoleucos. The 

 Common Sandpiper, or " Summer Snipe," as it is 

 perhaps more generally called, is a much more 

 numerous and regular summer visitor than the last 

 species. It arrives here about the middle of April 

 (my own earliest note of its arrival is the 12th of 

 April), from which time to the middle of May one or 

 two of these birds always frequent the banks of my 

 pond, and then disappear for a short time, after 

 which they return with their young broods, probably 

 in the meantime seeking some more retired situation 

 for nesting purposes, and perhaps some place where 

 they are less exposed to the attacks of the Pied 

 Wagtails, who for some reason or other bully them 

 most unmercifully, mobbing them as if they were 

 Hawks. 



The nest is usually placed on the ground amongst 

 rushes or thickish grass, or amongst the roots of 

 trees, and sometimes perhaps in a hole in a loosely 

 built stone wall,* Jand is made of moss and a few 

 dry leaves. Yarrell adds that the nest is occasion- 

 ally found in a corn-field, if near enough to the 

 water. 



* ' Zoologist' for 1866 (Second Series, p. 440). 



