Descriptive List of the Common Birds 
ment which cannot be made regarding the 
snipe. If you see a snipe-like bird feeding, 
you may be perfectly sure that it is not a 
snipe. It is a sandpiper of sorts, but it is not 
by any means easy to say which of the many 
sandpipers without shooting it. Descriptions 
of the common species of sandpiper follow :— 
192. Totanus hypoleucus: ‘The Common 
Sandpiper. (F. 1460), (J. 893), (+11, but 
with a very short tail, so that it actually 
measures less than a bulbul.) 
It is a greenish-brown bird with white 
under parts. Its legs are not long for a wader ; 
its bill is about an inch long. It goes about in 
ones or twos (never in flocks), picking up in- 
sects on the water’s edge. When disturbed it 
flies away, and then its wings, which are 
pointed, show a very narrow white band. By 
this you may recognise the species. It flies 
low, and as Eha remarks, with its wings bent 
like a bow. When it settles down it wags its 
apology for a tail in wagtail-like manner. 
(Illus. B. B., p. 168.) 
193. Totanus glareola: The Wood Sand- 
piper, or Spotted Sandpiper. (F. 1461), (J. 
891), (+I, but with a very short tail.) 
The upper plumage of this is dark brown 
207 
