212 Order XIII 



passage it has never remained to breed, while the Wood 

 Sandpiper's eggs were once taken by Hancock at 

 Prestwick Car, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. No other 

 instance of the nesting in Britain of either species can 

 be substantiated, though such have been reported. 

 The Moray Firth seems to be the northern limit of their 

 range in our country, as is the Arctic Circle in Europe 

 and Asia ; but that of the Green Sandpiper extends to 

 Holstein, Germany, central Russia and central Asia, 

 while that of the Wood Sandpiper includes Holland, 

 the Danube valley and even parts of southern Europe. 

 The habits and food are those of the last genus, but the 

 note is shriller and more insistent in summer, and both 

 the birds, at least from Germany eastward, have been 

 proved to use also old nests of Thrushes and the Uke in 

 which to deposit their four large greenish or buff eggs 

 with red-brown spots and blotches. The same fact 

 has lately been proved for their American relation the 

 Solitary Sandpiper, but the habit is much less constant 

 in the Wood Sandpiper. 



The Redshank {T. totanus) breeds commonly both 

 inland and near the coast, where it can find marshy 

 grass-land suitable to its requirements ; some thirty 

 years ago most of its colonies were by the sea, 

 often on salt-marshes, but of late it has spread to 

 districts far inland, while it is not uncommon even 

 in Shetland. Undoubtedly many migrants arrive in 

 autumn from abroad and join the home-bred birds, 

 which at that time of year seek the shore ; the 

 majority then depart for the south, but a certain pro- 

 portion remain during the winter. The small flocks no 

 doubt vary their usual insect-food by feeding on small 

 marine creatures, for their regular haunts are the 



