SANDPIPER. GRALLATORES. TOTANUS. 87 
already separated from it, having been described by Nrtson 
in his Ornithologia Suecica as Glottis chloropus, and by STE- 
PHENS, in the 12th volume of SHaw’s Zoology, as Limosa 
glottis. The only differing point, however, is in the form of 
the bill, which is rather stronger, and bent upwards from 
the middle to the point, thus leading to and beautifully con- 
necting the present genus with the genera Limosa and Re- 
curvirostra, It is a scarce bird in Britain, and generally Periodical 
only to be met with about the periods of its vernal and au- ViStan 
tumnal migrations, though I am inclined to think that a few 
may breed upon the edges of the Scottish lakes, as Sir W11- 
LIAM JARDINE and myself met with the young upon Loch 
Awe in July; and I have an adult specimen that was shot in 
Scotland in the month of May. Upon the Continent, it is 
rather common during winter in some parts of Holland, and 
also upon the shores of the Swiss lakes, and on the larger 
rivers of Germany; but it retires in the summer to more 
northern countries to breed. Its geographical distribution 
seems to be of wide extent in the ancient world, as the spe- 
cimens I have received from different parts of India are pre- 
cisely similar to our own. It has also been mentioned by 
some authors as occurring in America; but this does not ap- 
pear to be the case, and the mistake has probably arisen 
from confounding some nearly allied species with it. It is 
seldom found on the sea-coast, but is the constant inhabitant 
of the margins of rivers, and the shores of pools and lakes in 
the interior of the countries it frequents, feeding upon the 
fry of fish, testaceous mollusca, aquatic worms, and insects. Food. 
We have no authentic account of its nidification. Montracu 
mentions an egg that he received from the fens, as belonging 
to this bird, and describes it as rather less than that of a 
Lapwing, but very similar in shape and colour. This, how- 
ever, may have been an egg of one of the Godwits, birds of 
nearly the same size, and which have been ascertained to 
breed in the fens of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. 
