1863.] ON THE BREEDING OF THE GREEN SANDPIPER. 531 



mestica ?] in an old Dove's nest, as he thinks, though he states it 

 might have been that of a Jay. Formerly, he proceeds to remark, 

 he had only observed this Sandpiper to use old nests of Turdus mu- 

 sicus, excepting once, when he found some young ones, only a few 

 days old, hard by a river-bank on a layer of pine-needles on an 

 "^/*e"-stub. 



Soon after the publication of this last piece of intelligence, appeared 

 that part of Herr Badeker's ' Eier der Europaischen Vogel,' wherein 

 (fol. XXX. no. 5) Helodromas ochropus was treated of, and a concise 

 summary of the foregoing accounts was given. This was remarked 

 upon by the writer of an article in ' The Ibis' for 1859 (vol. i. p. 405), 

 and thus the curious facts which I have above detailed were made 

 generally known, for the first time I believe, to English readers. In 

 1860 a short recapitulation of them was also published by my friend 

 Dr. Baldamus, in the continuation of Naumaun's celebrated ' Vogel 

 Deutschlands' (vol. xiii. p. 241). Towards the close of the same 

 year also that excellent observer who veils his name under the sig- 

 nature of "An Old Bushman" contributed a series of articles to 

 * The Field ' newspaper, in which he described his own experience of 

 the Green Sandpiper's way of nesting in Sweden. The natural- 

 history editor of that paper, not knowing what had been already 

 written, exhibited some signs of scepticism on the subject, whereupon 

 his correspondent reiterated his statement, saying (Field, No. 411, 

 Nov. ll>, 18G0, p. 393) that "there is no doubt about the matter," 

 and adding that he " never took the nest on the ground." 



I have now only to read to you a portion of a letter, dated Novem- 

 ber 27, 1861, which I received from my friend Pastor Theobald, of 

 Copenhagen. He says as follows : — 



" The nidification of Totanus ochropus is so remarkable that I do 

 not fear to trouble you with the history the Forester Hintz [whom 

 I have mentioned above] has given me. He writes: — 'This year I 

 succeeded in finding the nest of Totanus ochropus. On the 9th of 

 May I took four eggs of this bird ; they were found in an old nest of 

 Turdus musiciis, and seemed to have been incubated about three days. 

 The very same day there were brought to me four other eggs of this 

 bird, also found in a Thrush's nest. * * * The 1 0th of May there 

 was shown to me a nest, thirty feet high, on an old birch, the bird 

 having chosen an old decayed nest of a Squirrel. This nest was the 

 highest I have ever seen. Three young ones had just been hatched ; 

 in the fourth egg the bird was about to break the shell. One jumped 

 down and concealed itself on the edge of a water-pool. The 1 1 th of 

 May a nest with four fresh eggs was found, but they did not come into 

 my hands ; this was in an old Pigeon's nest on a Pinus rubra, and 

 full of dry pine-leaves. The 20th of May two eggs, almost burst by 

 the young, were found in an old Thrush's nest, the two missing birds 

 having most hkely already left the nest. The 22nd of May four young 

 ones, apparently but a few hours old, were found in the old nest of 

 a Lanius collurio, in a juniper three feet high. The 24th of May 

 four young ones were found in the hole of a Populus tremula thrown 

 down by the wind. The year before Muscicapa luctuosa had its 



