TOTANIN^E. ACTITIS. 97 



It is generally dispersed, and of common occurrence ; is re- 

 markable for its activity, and the vibrating movements of its 

 body ; has a rapid devious flight, skimming over the water, 

 at intervals with stiffened and arched wings, and uttering its 

 loud shrill cries ; runs with great celerity ; is vigilant and 

 rather suspicious, but easily approached within shooting dis- 

 tance. The nest is a slight hollow in the sand, or among 

 pebbles ; the eggs always four, enormously large, an inch and 

 four-twelfths in length, an inch in breadth, broadly pyriform, 

 reddish-white or cream-coloured, glossy, and covered with 

 dots and small spots of dark purplish-brown, and greyish- 

 purple. After the young are fledged, they do not collect into 

 large flocks, nor betake themselves to the sea-shore. Their 

 food consists of insects and larvae. 



Common Sandpiper. Water Junket. Willy-wicket. Fid- 

 dler. 



Tringa Hypoleucos, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 250. Tringa Hy- 

 poleucos, Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 731. Totanus Hypoleucos, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. ii. 657. Actitis Hypoleucos, White~ 

 breasted Weet-weet, MacGillivray Brit. Birds, iv. 



202. ACTITIS MACULARIA. SPOTTED WEET-WEET. 



Slightly inferior in size to the White-breasted species, 

 which it precisely resembles in form ; with the bill dusky at 

 the point, greenish -brown above, yellow beneath ; the upper 

 parts glossy greenish-brown, the head longitudinally streaked, 

 the rest transversely banded, with dark brown ; the lower 

 parts white, marked all over w r ith roundisli dusky spots. 

 Young with the upper parts lighter, the feathers of the head 

 margined with dusky, the back and wings with more nume- 

 rous dusky bars, the lower parts brownish-white, unspotted. 

 Tringa Cinclus, in autumn, having black spots on the breast 

 and sides, is apt to be mistaken for it. 



Male, 8, 13, 4^, H> H, iV> iV 



This species is abundant in many parts of North America, 

 where it is migratory, and frequents the margins of rivers and 

 pools. Its habits, as detailed by the ornithologists of that 

 country, are similar to those of our White-breasted Weet- 

 weet, which it resembles so closely in form. Individuals have 

 been shot on the continent of Europe, and a few are recorded 

 to have been obtained in England. 



Spotted Sandpiper. 



