420 Scolopacidce. 



with which it is often confounded, and with which it was always 

 supposed to be identical, until our countryman Montagu pointed 

 out wherein it differed; but though similar to that bird in 

 plumage, in general habits, and especially when breeding, it 

 more closely resembles the Redshank. Its true home is in 

 Central Asia and Central Europe, where it frequents thickets of 

 alder and willow in marshy ground, and is common in winter 

 throughout the Mediterranean, including the northern shores of 

 Africa. The specific name glareola, which is a diminutive from 

 glarea, ' gravel/ would imply that it haunts gravelly places, but 

 such appears to be by no means characteristic of this species. 

 It is the Tringa grallatoris and 'Long-legged Sandpiper' of 

 Montagu, and, indeed, its length of leg seems disproportionate to 

 the size of its body. The English specific name, * Wood Sand- 

 piper/ as well as the French Chevalier Sylvain and the German 

 Wald Strandlaufer, all point to the peculiar haunts it loves, 

 wherein it differs from all its congeners. In Sweden it is known 

 as Gron-bent Sndppa. 



155. COMMON SANDPIPER (Totanus hypolewos). 



This is a far more common species than T. ochropus, as its 

 trivial name implies, and may be frequently met with in summer, 

 not only on the banks of our streams, but even occasionally on 

 our downs. The Rev. G. Marsh told me that it is especially 

 abundant in the neighbourhood of Salisbury ; and that is tho- 

 roughly confirmed by the Rev. A. P. Morres, who sees them every 

 summer there. Sometimes, but only very seldom, I have met 

 with them in the water-meadows in the parish of Yatesbury. It 

 is an elegant little bird, and all its movements are graceful and 

 pleasing : whether on the wing, as it skims over the surface of 

 the water with a shrill piping whistle, or on foot, as, perched on 

 a stone, it continually moves its tail up and down, or runs with 

 great rapidity by the margin of the stream. It is also said to be 

 able to dive as well as swim on emergency, and, in short, is a 

 bird of most active habits and most lively motions. Its note, 

 too, is remarkably loud for its size. To most people it is known 



