HIMAXTOPUS. 353 



Major Cook remarks : — "I found the Common Sandpiper 

 breeding plentifully on the banks of all the streams that run into 

 the Cashmere Valley, and took many nests on the Sindh Eirer in 

 May and June. 



" The nest is placed a few yards from the water in an open 

 situation in stony localities amongst low sage-bushes. It is on the 

 ground in a slight depression, generally to the north of a low 

 bush, and consists of a few little pieces of stick or a few fragments 

 of dead leaves. It always contains four eggs, the pointed ends of 

 which are placed together in the centre. The bird gets off the 

 nest very slowly, as if it wished to attract attention to itself." 



Mr. Scrope Doig records the finding of a nest of this Sandpiper 

 in the Eastern Narra, Sind, on the 3rd July. The nest was found 

 by one of his men, and perhaps some doubts may be entertained 

 about its authenticity. 



The eggs are always four in number. 



The eggs of this species are typically ovato-pyriform in shape, 

 hemispheres united to somewhat elongated truncated cones, which 

 latter are again often a good deal compressed or pinched in 

 towards the tips. Many eggs, however, are merely somewhat 

 elongated ovals, broad at one end and elongated and pointed 

 towards the other. The shells are very fine and close, and have a 

 certain amount of gloss. 



The ground-colour varies a little, but the most usual type is a 

 pale creamy stone-colour, with a buffy, cafe-au-lait, or sometimes 

 even pink tinge. The markings are a rich red-brown, in some 

 cases so intense as to be all but black, and consist of specks and 

 spots more or less intermingled with, and underlaid by, spots and 

 small clouds of reddish, or in other cases pale inky, purple. The 

 eggs do not vary very much. The markings are never very dense, 

 except at the large end, where they sometimes form an almost 

 confluent cap, but individual eggs differ in having them compara- 

 tively dense and sparse. The markings, never bold or large, vary 

 from mere specks to spots nearly an eighth of an inch in diameter ; 

 this also imparts a somewhat diiferent character to different eggs. 

 On the whole, however, a series of the eggs of the Common Sand- 

 piper is more uniform than any series of most other well-coloured 

 and marked eggs would be. 



In length they vary from 1-35 to 1-52, and in breadth from 1*0 

 to I'll ; but the average of fourteen eggs is 1-46 by 1'06, 



Himantopus candidus, Bonn. The Stilt. 



liimantopus candidus, Bonn,, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 704. 

 Himantopus intermedius, Blyth, Hume, Bough Draft N. ^- E. 

 no. 898. 



The only places in Upper India where I have seen the Stilt 

 breeding are in and about clusters of salt-works situated in the 

 Groorgaon District, about thirty-five miles south of Delhi, known 

 collectively as the Sultanpoor Works. 



Toi. ni. 23 



