316 BRITISH BIRDS 



placed among reeds or rushes. The three or four eggs are olive- 

 green, blotched and spotted with dark brown and dusky green. 

 The young birds when hatched have short, straight, plover-like 

 bills. 



The family Scolopacidse, which comprises the phalaropes, avocet, 

 snipes, sandpipers, godwits, the curlew, and whimbrel, numbers 

 thirty-four (so-called) British species. Eighteen have been fully 

 described, including the ruff, now extinct as a breeder, and fallen 

 to the position of a mere straggler in this country. The ruff is one 

 of three interesting and handsome species in this family of birds 

 which have been extirpated in England fluring the present century. 

 Another is the avocet (Recu/rvirostra avocetta), a singular wader, 

 conspicuous and beautiful in black and white plumage, with a long 

 bill, curved upwards. It bred in large numbers in fens and marshes 

 in the eastern countries ; but since about 1825, when it finally 

 ceased to visit its old haunts in summer, it has been known only as 

 a rare straggler. The third extirpated species is the fine black- 

 tailed godwit (Limosa melanivra), which bred annually in Norfolk 

 and the neighbouring county until about 1835. It is now a visitor 

 on migration, in very small numbers, to the east coast. The bar- 

 tailed godwit, which has never bred in the British Islands, also 

 appears occasionally in small numbers during migration. It breeds 

 in northern Europe. The black-winged stilt, which resembles the 

 avocet in its black and white dress, but has longer legs and a 

 straight bill, is a rare straggler from southern Europe. Of several 

 species of sandpipers that appear as stragglers on our coasts during 

 migration, there are two that have some claim to be regarded as 

 British species. One is the wood-sandpiper (Totanus glareola), 

 which comes nearest to the green sandpiper is size, colour, and 

 general appearance. It appears on the east and south coasts in 

 autumn, in small flocks composed of young birds. The wood- 

 sandpiper is known to have bred on one occasion in this country 

 at Prestwich Car, in Northumberland, in 1853. The second species 

 is the spotted redshank, a rare and irregular visitor during migra- 

 tion, chiefly to the eastern counties. Its winter plumage is ash- 

 grey above and white beneath ; in summer it differs from all other 

 sandpipers in its dark hue, the general colour being sooty black, 

 the upper parts studded with triangular spots of pure white. It 

 breeds in northern Europe in wooded situations, and is partial 

 to burnt grounds, where its dark plumage assimilates in colour to 



