PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 119 



species that are merely fleeting visitors during their 

 annual migrations, and never occur in sufficient 

 number to form a dominant feature in the bird-life 

 of the shore, they do not call for any lengthened 

 description, or minute study, in a work which seeks 

 only to sketch the more enduring avine character- 

 istics of the British seaboard. We will deal with 

 the commonest species first. During the period of 

 its migrations, the Common Sandpiper, or Summer 

 Snipe (Tetanus hypoleucus] is a pretty frequent 

 visitor to the coast, especially in the south-western 

 parts of England ; and there is strong reason 

 to believe that a limited number may pass the 

 winter thereon. Its habits on the shore are very 

 similar to those of the other Limicoline species. 

 It breeds commonly by the side of our inland 

 waters, and is certainly, as its name implies, the 

 most abundant and the most widely dispersed of 

 the British waders. Another fairly regular and 

 frequent visitor to the British littoral in spring 

 and autumn is the Greenshank (Totanus glottis}. 

 It is most often met with on the low-lying eastern 

 coasts ; but it is said a few birds winter in Ireland. 

 The Greenshank breeds very locally in Scotland, 

 and is best known to us at its more or less inland 

 nesting stations. It may be distinguished by its 

 white lower back and central upper tail coverts, 

 and nearly uniform gray secondaries. Of even rarer 

 and more local appearance is the Wood Sandpiper 

 (Totanus glareola\ sometimes met with in small 



