860 TOTANUS GLAEEOLA. 



incubating near Aranjuez on the 28th of May. Messrs. Danford and Harvie Brown observed it on passage in 

 Transylvania ; and in Great Britain it is only a spring and autumn migrant, though some few perhaps remain 

 to breed, as Mr. Hancock took a nest in June 1853, at Prestwick Car, Northumberland. Mr. Dresser writes 

 that it has only occurred as a straggler on the west coast of Scotland ; but in Elginshire, according to Mr. More, 

 it has bred. The young just fledged have been shot in Norfolk, from which it appears that it lias bred 

 as far south as that country. In Heligoland it occurs on passage, and in the month of May has been obtained 

 there by Herr Gatke. Mr. Seebohm met with it on the Petchora as early as the 28th of May. It was 

 common at Ilabariki, but was not seen north of Stanavoialachta. It is, however, abundant in Finland far 

 north, and also in high latitudes in Norway. According to Mr. H. C. Miiller it has occurred on the Faroe 

 Islands. 



Habits. — The Wood-Sandpiper is more .essentially a freshwater bird than any of its allies, except perhaps 

 the next species. In Ceylon, to a considerable extent, it restricts itself to frequenting paddy-fields, l lie 

 margins of lakes, tanks, and pools, flooded grass-land, and wet but bare marshes. When it first arrives the 

 land is in course of cultivation, and it congregates in hundreds in the slushy ploughed fields, picking up 

 insects, and running about over the newly harrowed soil, totally regardless of the shouts of the natives to 

 their working buffaloes. When the fields are too wet for it to feed in it takes to the bunds surrounding the 

 squares of tilled land, and stands motionless in little rows, allowing the sportsman to approach quite close to 

 it, uttering its loud piping whistle as it rises, and flying round and round, till it selects another spot to light 

 upon. Its tame disposition makes it a desirable quarry for the native hunter ; and numbers are shot and 

 brought in as "Shnape" to the market, where they, however, do not command the same price as the real 

 article (Snipe), which the Cingalese invariably styles Kasivatuwa. 



On the north-west coast about Jaffna, and likewise in the south-eastern district, it may be met with near 



tidal flats, on salt marshes near the margins of brackish backwaters, and on the edges of salt pans; but it is 



not to be found in such large flocks in any of these situations as in the paddy-fields of the interior during 



autumn ; and it is in the spring, when the corn is growing up, that it is mostly driven to frequent these 



various salt waters. Its chief companions about lagoons and estuaries are the noisy Marsh-Sandpiper and 



the Long-toed Stint, which arc both fonder of grassy salt marshes than of bare tidal flats ; and in the interior 



the latter species is not unfrequently found consorting with it. On the large brackish lagoons or " lakes " in 



the south-west it may be seen with the Common Sandpiper affecting the muddy mangrove-lined shores of 



these large sheets of water, these two birds being about the only " Waders " to be found in these ornithologically- 



barren localities. It is also partial to the vicinity of the coir-pits, in common with the last species, where it finds 



an abundance of food in the insects which frequent these spots. When well on the wing, after being disturbed, 



its flight is swift, but on getting up and flying from one spot to another it is rather sluggish in its movements. 



After circling round and round a field, proceeding with great speed, it suddenly darts down with half-closed 



wings, extending them when it nears the ground, and skimming along with outstretched legs, alights in 



some inviting place. Its food consists of aquatic insects, shrimps, worms, &c. I have never seen it alighting 



on trees or fences, though sometimes it will perch, after being flushed, on a slanting stake or low inclining 



post. In northern parts, however, it constantly perches on trees, a habit which, after all, is not abnormal, as 



other species do the same. Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie Brown, in their paper on the birds of the Petchora 



River, write as follows: — "They were frequenting the pools in the middle of the town (Ust Zylma), and 



were exceedingly tame, allowing us to approach within a few yards of them. They were very common at 



Babariki, and we shot specimens, which had perched on the tops of high dead larches, quite 70 feet from the 



ground." In Borneo Mr. Mottley found it to be a freshwater bird, perching on the batangs (hence its name) 



or drift timber. 



Nidification. — The Wood-Sandpiper breeds near water, nesting in grass or amongst heath. The nest is 

 placed in a little hollow and lined with grass and bents. A nest taken by Mr. Hancock at the famous wild- 

 fowl breeding-resort, Prestwick Car, was situated on the side of a dry hillock where grew some heath and 

 grass in the midst of a swampy spot. The number of eggs laid is four. The eggs of this species are, on the 

 whole, rather larger than those of the Green Sandpiper. They vary tolerably in ground-colour, but more so 



