610 SCOLOPACHLE. 



ly, and to a considerable distance ; a provision wisely 

 granted, as being so well adapted to insure their safety in 

 the unfledged state. The authors of the catalogue of the 

 Norfolk and Suffolk Birds, say, " Some years since we saw 

 a Sandpiper flying across a river attacked by a hawk, when 

 it instantly dived, and remained under water until its 

 enemy disappeared. It then emerged, and joined its com- 

 panions. This bird when flushed, sometimes utters a note 

 resembling, as near as possible, that of the Kingfisher." 

 Montagu says, having shot at and winged one of this 

 species as it was flying across a piece of water, it fell, arid 

 floated towards the verge, and as we reached to take it up, 

 the bird instantly dived, and we never saw it rise again 

 to the surface. A correspondent in a midland county, 

 writes me word, that he has seen this bird perch occasion- 

 ally upon projecting roots and stumps of trees by the river 

 side ; that when diving, it uses its wings under water the 

 same as in flying ; and on one occasion when he had shot 

 at, and slightly wounded, a bird that fell about twenty 

 yards on the opposite side of a brook, no sooner was it 

 down than it turned back, and made direct for the water as 

 still affording the chance of escape. 



M. Nilsson says this species is common in Scandinavia 

 from April to August. Linnaeus, in his Tour in Lapland, 

 mentions having found a nest with four eggs near the water 

 side at Flaskesele, in Lycksehe Lapland, on the 31st of 

 May 1732, old style. This species is also known to visit 

 the west coast of Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and 

 Greenland. 



The Common Sandpiper is seen over the greater part of 

 Europe from the spring till its autumn migration, when it 

 goes southward, and is observed in Provence, Italy, Sicily 

 and Malta. The Zoological Society have received speci- 



