1863.] ON THE BREEDING OF THE GREEN SANDPIPER. 529 



interruptis sculpta, castanea, fasciis 2 albis ornata ; spira con- 

 vexo-conica, apice obtusulo alba; anfr. 5, modice convexi, ultimus 

 spiram superans, infra medium leviter striatus, bast rotundatus ; 

 apertura parum obliqua, angulato-ovalis, intus margaritacea, albo 

 fasciata ; perist. simplex, rectum, margine dextro antrorsum sub- 

 curvato, columellari albo-calloso, arcuato, intrante. 



Long. 251, diam. 14 mill. 



Hab. Port Lincoln, South Australia. 



6. On THE Breeding of the Green Sandpiper (Helodro- 

 MAS ocHROPUs). By Alfred Newton, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



Ornithologists are aware of the very different positions often chosen 

 for their nests by birds of the same species. Thus Eagles may be 

 found sometimes building their eyries upon trees, at others on cliffs, 

 and again sometimes absolutely upon the flat ground. The same 

 may be said of some species of Falcons and of some Herons. Cer- 

 tain Crows also and the Stock-Dove {Columba oenas) exhibit a like 

 disparity of habit. Even among the members of the Gallinaceous 

 order a similar diversity is occasionally, though rarely, to be observed. 

 I have been told, on authority I cannot question, of a common Phea- 

 sant {Phasianus colchicus) and of a Capercally {Tetrao urogallus) 

 each choosing a iicst in a tree wherein to lay its eggs. Instances of 

 the common Wild Duck {Anas boschas) breeding in hollow stumps 

 of trees are very frequent ; and with the Ducks of the genus Aix 

 this seems to be the normal mode of nidification. But, excepting in 

 the last case, this peculiarity in the selection of a site for the nest 

 seems to result from the particular fancy (or instinct, it may be) of 

 the individual ; and in that exceptional case the general habits of 

 the birds are so essentially arboreal that we need not wonder at the 

 fact of their using trees for their nurseries as well as for their usual 

 places of lodging. The only instances parallel to the one I am going 

 to adduce are, so far as 1 can call to mind, those of the Golden-eye 

 {Clangula glaucion), the Goosander (Mergus serrator), and the 

 Smew {Mergus albellus). Each of these three birds departs from 

 the manner of nidification which obtains among its brethren, just as 

 I shall show that the Green Sandpiper {Helodromas ochropus*) 

 does. 



Though I do not pretend to lay before you any novel facts this 

 evening, yet it will be, I think, admitted that hitherto we have had 

 in England but little positive information on the mode of breeding 

 of the Green Sandpiper ; such as it is, however, I will proceed to 

 notice it. First, I must say that I think the story of the nest of 

 this bird "by the side of a clay-pit" in Norfolk, as told in Mr. 

 Yarrell's 'British Birds' (vol. ii. p. 529) and in Mr. Lubbock's 



* The osteology of the Tringa ochropus, Linn., presents such a marked devia- 

 tion from that of the other 7'o/anj which I have examined, that I do not hesitate 

 in this case to follow Dr. Kaup in considering it the type of a distinct genus. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1863, No. XXXIV. 



