161 



THE COMMON SANDPIPER. 



Totanus liypoleucus (L.). 



The first record for the year, a single bird seen in Lancashire 

 on the 21st o£ March, refers no doubt to an individual which 

 had wintered in our Islands. The regular immigration o£ 

 the species commenced on the 8th of April, the birds arriving 

 on the western half of the south coast. Single birds or small 

 numbers were recorded continuously throughout the whole 

 country, from the 8th to the 21st of April. During this 

 period records from Surrey, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, 

 Cambridgeshire and Norfolk may be ascribed to a small 

 immigration of birds which had arrived by a more easterly 

 route, through Hampshire and Sussex, on the 9th and 13th 

 of April. 



Generally speaking, but few Sandpipers were observed 

 in any of the coastal counties, their presence at their breeding- 

 haunts being the first indication of their arrival in any 

 numbers, a fact which doubtless has its significance in con- 

 nection with the mode of passage. 



Between the 22nd and 24th of April a small influx was 

 noticeable in Dorset and Hampshire, and several were seen 

 at St. Cathei'ine's light, Isle of Wight, during the large 

 immigration of various species which occurred between 11 p.m. 

 and 3.30 a.m. on the night of the 23rd/24th of April, when 

 the birds were flying in a west-north-westerly direction. 



By the 4th of May the usual number of birds seem to have 

 arrived in most of the counties in which the Sandpiper breeds, 

 and nesting had commenced. Several nests with eggs were 

 reported from Radnor on the 9th of May, and from Cheshire, 

 Lancasliire, Cumberland and Westmoreland on the 14th. 



