GREEN SANDPIPER. 293 



THE GKEEN SANDPIPEE. 



TOT ANUS OCHROPUS. 



WITH the exception of a single specimen shot on 10th November, 

 1868, on the Pollok estate, near Glasgow, and another seen in its 

 company by Mr W. Cox, keeper there, this beautiful species has 

 never, so far as I am aware, occurred on any part of the western 

 mainland, or its island dependencies. From north to south, 

 however, in the eastern counties, various specimens have been 

 obtained. It is mentioned in Mr Sinclair's Caithness catalogue, 

 and has been found in East Lothian on the banks of the Tyne 

 and other streams by Dr Turnbull. In Dumfriesshire, the 

 earliest record of its occurrence is in 1829, by Mr Selby; and Sir 

 William Jardine informs me that he has frequently procured it in 

 the same county since 1836. I have likewise been informed by 

 Mr W. Smellie Watson, of Edinburgh, that he has shot this species 

 near Carlinwark House, Castle-Douglas, and Mr Harvie Brown 

 sent me a fine specimen in the flesh which he shot on the banks of 

 the Carron, in Stirlingshire, in the last week of August, 1870. 



Mr Angus, of Aberdeen, has obligingly furnished me with the 

 following notes on this species: "The Green Sandpiper has 

 frequently been found in the county of Aberdeen. A beautiful 

 specimen came under my observation lately; it was shot by a lad 

 named Smith on the old Town Links, on the 12th September, 

 1867, and sold to Mr Mitchell, of the Museum. I believe that 

 this species occasionally breeds in Aberdeenshire. A male and 

 female were killed by the side of a hill burn in July, 1865, and 

 preserved by Mr William Beveridge, of Craigh a gentleman well 

 known for his talent in stuffing game birds. I have also undoubted 

 evidence of its occurrence in summer in other parts of the county." 

 As naturalists hitherto have had but an imperfect knowledge 

 of the nidification of this bird, the following quotation from 

 " Ten Years in Sweden," by Mr Wheelwright, better known 

 as "the old bushman," may not be considered out of place: 

 " Although it is easy enough to know whereabout the bird is 

 breeding, a man may look till doomsday for the eggs if he followed 

 the stereotyped description of, I believe, all our naturalists, and 

 sought for the nest where they tell us, ' in sand, on a bank, or 

 among grass by the side of a stream.' The fact is, I don't believe 



