MABSH 8ANDFIPEB. 13 



downwards in a slanting direction, at which, time it does not make 

 any beat with the wings, but holds them closer to the body than in 

 its usual flight, when the beats are more frequent and powerful. On 

 dropping gently down, and even when standing still, it often 

 stretches its wings straight up for some seconds, thus showing their 

 white under-surfaces before closing them. Its general habits resemble 

 those of the Greenshank, Totanus glottis, and its note is not unlike 

 the note of that bird. 



"Mr. Thomas Eobson, of Ortakeny, who has had frequent oppor- 

 tunities of observing the species in Asia Minor, informed Mr. 

 Dresser, in a note for his "Birds of Europe," that they wade in 

 inland shallow waters seeking their food, and rest within the edges 

 of marshes with muddy bottoms on one leg, and when disturbed hop 

 out and rise from one leg. 



^'Professor Nordmann has observed that, if several individuals 

 are surprised at the edge of a pool, and be not approached too 

 suddenly, they will take to the water, keeping close together, and 

 thus save themselves by swimming rather than take to flight. The 

 Marsh Sandpiper, he says, is as good a swimmer as either of our 

 Phalaropes, to which, in habits as well as in other respects, it bears 

 some resemblance. 



"An instance has been recorded by Dr. Bree, on the authority of 

 Mr. Wright, of Malta, of one allowing itself to be taken by the hand 

 in some short grass, in which it tried to elude its pursuer by 

 running Rail fashion, instead of taking to flight like other birds of its 

 genus. It was not wounded, and did not appear to be exhausted, 

 for, when set free in a room, it ran about briskly, its neck drawn 

 close to its shoulders. 



"From this brief account of its haunts and habits it will be seen 

 that the species is very unlikely to occur in England, since it has 

 rarely been met with in France, and is unknown in Belgium and 

 Holland. Should a straggler through France, however, find its way 

 to our shores, it would necessarily be during the period of migration, 

 in spring, and not in mid-winter, as reported by Mr. Roberts in 

 the case under notice. And, even supposing that a Marsh Sand- 

 piper had reached this country, say in April or May, 1873, it 

 would not have been found here in January, 1874, for its migratory 

 instinct, in the intervening autumn, would have impelled it at that 

 season to travel far southward to its winter quarters. 



"I am accordingly forced to conclude that the so-called Marsh 

 Sandpiper which is reported to have been shot near Malton in 

 January, 1874,* but of which no description has been published, and 

 * See "Zoologist," 1874, p. 4054. 



