220 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



being noticed in small parties shortly after the broods are reared. It is not 

 specially a coast bird, but prefers to run about the margins of pools and streams, 

 occasionally wading through the shallows, and frequenting tidal creeks and salt 

 marshes. Its food is not known to differ from that of the Green Sandpiper, and 

 its note is described as a shrill whistle. 



Nidification. — It is a most extraordinary fact that the nesting habits 

 and the eggs of the Solitary Sandpiper are absolutely unknown, for the nest 

 discovered by Mr. Eichardson, made upon the ground, does not seem to us suffi- 

 ciently authenticated. Its breeding grounds are neither unknown nor inaccessible, 

 nevertheless its eggs remain undiscovered. This is most probably because 

 American naturalists have not searched for them in trees. There can be no 

 possible doubt that the Solitary Sandpiper breeds in a similar way to its Old 

 World representative, and lays its eggs in the deserted nests of other birds. 

 During the breeding season it frequents similar localities, forest swamps, and 

 pools. Its eggs, probably, closely resemble those of the Green Sandpiper. 



Diagnostic characters. — Helodromas, with the axillaries brown 

 narrowly barred with white, and the rump and central upper tail coverts dark, 

 the same colour as the back and rump ; primaries unbarred. Length, 9 inches. 



