The Wood Sandpiper. 'ss- 



the rest of the underparts, the lower neck and upper breast with dusky brown 

 shaft-stripes, broadening below into spots ; axillaries white, faintly and incompletely 

 barred with dusky ; legs and feet greenish- grey. Length 8 to SJ inches, closed 

 wing 4f to 5. 



The adult in winter is less spotted with white above, and the spots on the 

 breast are narrowed into fine shafts- streaks, on a ground colour of ashy-grey. 



Young birds (the usual form with us) have the marginal spots of the upper 

 parts of a rusty drab, instead of white, and the tail bars rudimentary. Length 

 generally under 8 inches, wing little over \\. 



Young, in down (Kittila, N. Finland, 21, 6, '89), grey above, with a ruddy 

 tinge, and several bold sooty-black bars from bill to tail (two combining to form 

 a black crown) ; under parts silvery grey. 



Obs. — The Wood Sandpiper is to be distinguished from the Green Sandpiper 

 without the least difficulty, by its white, scarcely barred, axillaries, and the white 

 shaft to its first primary. 



The nest is usually placed on a dry bushy hillock, within convenient reach, 

 of the marshes where the birds feed, and to which they mean in time to lead 

 their young. The nest itself is a mere hollow in the ground, amongst heather, 

 willow-scrub, sweet-gale, or long grass, and is lined with a little fine grass. The 

 eggs are four in number, pyriform, of a light greenish-drab (occasionally ochreous) 

 with light neutral tint blotches, and spots of sepia-brown ; they measure about 

 \\ inch by a little over i inch. Hewitson states that the female incubates ; I 

 have not shot the bird from the nest. 



When met with by the sea on migration, the Wood Sandpiper is not noticed 

 (as far as I have seen, and I have seen dozens) on the sea-shore itself, but rather 

 on brackish ponds, drains, or chance accumulations of rain water near the shore. 

 I have always thought that there were more Wood Sandpipers to be seen in a 

 wet season ; but probably the fact is that, there being more wet places suited to 

 their tastes, they linger longer instead of pressing on southwards, and attract 

 more notice in consequence. The Green Sandpiper can swim well, and even dive, 

 on occasion. Styan mentions (Ibis, 1897, 507) a bird of this species " alighting 

 voluntarily on a pond in deep water, swimming to the shallows, and quietly 

 beginning to feed." 



I hardly consider it a shy and wary bird, in which respect it differs markedly 

 from the next species. In its breeding haunts it often perches on trees and 

 bushes. As has been mentioned {sub voce Common Snipe), the Wood Sandpiper 

 at its nest goes through much the same aerial evolutions as the Snipe, the 

 descending motion with quivering wings being accompanied by a tremulous vocal 



