211 



THE WOOD SANDPIPER. 



Totanus glareola, Linn, (sp.) 

 Tringa „ „ 



Cannot be recorded with certainty. 



To the following notice which I communicated to the ' Aimals of 

 Natural History ' (vol. v. p. 8) nothing of consequence can here be 

 added. " Mr. R. Ball describes a species of Totanus to me, which 

 he saw for several years, about the month of June, frequenting a 

 stream in Glenbower wood, near Youghal, and believes to have 

 been this bird. In the late Mr. Templeton's MSS., a sandpiper, 

 considered to be of this species, is noticed as having been seen in 

 the neighbourhood of Belfast, but, as in the preceding instance, 

 in terms which do not warrant its introduction to the Eauna with 

 certainty." The description of a bird killed on the borders of 

 Belfast Bay, in September 1844, and communicated by the 

 shooter, exactly agrees with the T. glareola ; but the specimen 

 was not saved. 



This species is but an occasional visitant to England, where it 

 appears to have occurred even more frequently about the Land's 

 End, Cornwall, than elsewhere,* — a circumstance which leads me 

 to believe that it must sometimes visit Ireland, and more espe^ 

 dally the southern parts. It has not been noticed in Scotland 

 (Jarcl., Macg.). 



The wood sandpiper has a very extensive geographical range, 

 and moves northward regularly to breed within the European 

 Arctic circle. " Moist woods, and swamps producing willows 

 and brushwood, are its favourite habitats, where it lives solitary, 

 or, in the breeding season, in pairs. "t 



* Mr. E. H. Rodd, in the ' Zoologist' (vol. i. pp. 143, 189) ; also Yarrell's British 

 Birds. 

 t Selby. 



p 2 



