SCOLOPACID^. 345 



manner of a Titlark. The Common Sandpiper, the Grey Wagtail, and 

 the Dip])er are all dear to us from their association with manj' a moor- 

 land stream in the delightful West Countrj' ou which we have plied our 

 %-rod. When shot at and wounded this Sandpiper swims and dives 

 readily, and is difficult to capture. 



Green Sandpiper. Helodromas ochwims (Linn.). 



A passing visitor, occurring sparingly, and generally in autumn, i. e. 

 August to October. It is probably to some extent a resident, as three, old 

 and young, were shot on the Exe Marshes, August 5th, 1889 (F. W. L. E,., 

 MS. Journ. ii. p. 34), and in ISGS a flock remained on the Exe estuary 

 all the summer. There is hardly a month in the year in which we have 

 failed to notice this beautiful Sandpiper in the South-western Counties. 

 Some are undoubtedly with us during the winter, as we have frequently 

 seen them iu December, January, and February, and a pair or two have, 

 with little doubt, nested occasionally in the neighbourhood of our least 

 disturbed streams. With the single exception that this species does not 

 ascend to the moors at the nesting-season its year's history closely follows 

 that of the Common Sandpiper, for as soon as the young can fly they also 

 are conducted by the old bii'ds to salt-marshes, and to the edges of small 

 ponds and creeks near the tideway, where they appear at the end of July 

 or at the beginning of August, and have occurred to us when the young 

 have been such feeble flyers that it has been evident that they could not 

 have come from any great distance. There is a small stream which runs 

 down from Bratton Fleming, and joins the Yeo some five miles to the east 

 of Barnstaple, by whose banks one spring we constantly saw a pair of 

 Green Sandpipers, and several times searched diligently for their nest in 

 the long rushy meadow where we invariably flushed them. This was 

 many years ago, before the singular nesting-habits of this species had been 

 discovered, and had we only been aware of them we feel confident we 

 might have secured the eggs of this pair of Sandpipers. At the bottom of 

 the meadow where we saw them there was a small plantation which came 

 down to the edge of the stream, and when we disturbed the birds they 

 generally rose rather high into the air, and, taking this direction, were lost 

 to view as they flew over the trees. These were chiefly firs, and in an 

 old pigeon's nest in one of them were doubtless the eggs we had searched 

 for in vain. 



^Vhen flushed tlie Green Sandpiper utters a shrill piping cry, and flic s 

 oft' in a succession of abrupt zigzags, its white tail, boldl}'^ l)arred with 

 black, being a consj)icuous oliject. lb is a shy bird, and could not lie 

 approached, if it were not for the shelter aiforded by the rushes and 

 a(]uatic herbage at the edges of tlie small pools it fre(iuents, in which, 

 being partly concealed itself, it fails to perceive the advancing sportsman. 

 Put, unless one Is wanted as a specimen, the Green Sandpiper is hui-dly 

 worth shooting, as the flesli is dark and has a curious musky ilavour, 

 rendering it quite unpalatable. 



