GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. f.21 



Habits. — The Wood Sandpiper has little right to its name, the 

 true " Wood " Sandpiper being the Green Sandpiper, the present 

 species frequenting moorlands and tundras where thickets of 

 willows fringe the pools and swamps. The Wood Sandpiper is a 

 rather late bird of passage, passing Gibraltar from about the 

 middle of March to the beginning of May, and arriving in 

 Germany from the beginning of April to the early part of June 

 (which is about the date of its appearance on the British coasts), 

 birds coming at the latter date being on their way to the Arctic 

 regions. This species was first observed in the valley of the 

 Petchora near the Arctic Circle by Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie- 

 Brown on the 26th of May ; but in the same latitude in the valley 

 of the Yenesay, it did not arrive until the 6th of June. Like most 

 late migrants in spring the return journey commences early in 

 autumn, beginning with August and lasting through September 

 into October. The Wood Sandpiper whilst on passage is said to 

 be very tame, and was observed by Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie- 

 Brown actually near the pools of snow water in the streets of Ust 

 Zylma. A week later they were again met with thirty miles to the 

 north at Habariki, where they were feeding by the edges of the 

 marshes and forest streams, and occasionally perching on the 

 topmost branches of the larch-trees. The Wood Sandpiper at its 

 winter quarters is said not to frequent the coast, but confines 

 itself to the marshes and inland streams and pools. It is not 

 gregarious, is usually met with in pairs or alone, and is seldom 

 seen even in parties. In Ceylon it frequents the rice-fields, even 

 whilst they are being tilled, running about in quest of food with 

 little show of fear for man. Its food consists principally of insects 

 and their larvse, small worms, and snails. The alarm note of the 

 Wood Sandpiper is a softly-uttered tyu-tyu. During the mating 

 season the male utters a somewhat musical but monotonous trill 

 as he descends on elevated wings after soaring, beginning in a 

 soft and slow strain, but becoming quicker and louder as he 

 reaches a perching place on a tree or a fence, or on the ground, 

 and when his quivering pinions almost touch above his head. 

 This trilling note sounds something like til-il-il. 



Nidification. — Towards the southern limits of its breeding 

 area the nesting season of the Wood Sandpiper begins early in 



