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winter on the rocky coasts of Scandinavia, from the extreme north down to Bohuslan, where it 

 is to be met with throughout the winter on Orust and Tjorn. Some few are seen in November 

 and December on the coasts of Skane. In Finland, Dr. Palmen writes (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 197), it 

 is rare, except on the coasts of the Arctic Ocean. Lilljeborg met with it at Schuretskaja ; and 

 Sahlberg and Malmberg met with it in flocks at Ponoj in August 1870. Occasionally it straggles 

 to the interior of Lapland; and Malm shot a male at Utsjoki on the 9th October, 1841. Only 

 one specimen is known as having been obtained on the Baltic coast, and is supposed to have 

 been shot near Helsingfors. On the north coast of Russia it is found in suitable localities, 

 and, according to Dr. Th. von Heuglin, is one of the commonest species in Novaya Zemlya 

 and Waigats, where he found it singly, in pairs, or in small flocks both on the coast and on 

 the marsh-creeks in the interior. He caught young in down early in August near Mototschkin 

 Sharr, and saw young birds of the year in September. 



Professor von Malmgren says (J. f. O. 1863, p. 372) that it is very common on the coasts of 

 Spitzbergen, as far as Brandywine Bay, being seen in the autumn and winter in flocks on the 

 coasts, but in the breeding-season in pairs in damp mossy places; and its nest is usually on a 

 small hillock. He saw the first flock on the 28th of May, on the shore of Kobbe Bay, after 

 which he saw it continually until he left the north coast early in September. Messrs. Evans and 

 Sturge state, " it was very abundant in Coal Bay (on the south side of Ice Sound — so named 

 on account of a small quantity of poor coal being found there) ; and we found four of their nests 

 on the high fjeld. Beautiful little nests they were, deep in the ground, and lined with stalks of 

 grass and leaves of the dwarf birch (Betula nana, L.), containing mostly four eggs of an olive-green, 

 handsomely mottled with purplish brown, chiefly at the larger end. We watched this elegant 

 little bird — the only one of the Grallatores we saw — with much interest as it waded into some 

 pool of snow-water, or ran along the shingle, every now and then raising its wings over its back 

 and exhibiting the delicate tint of the underside, at the same time uttering its loud, shrill 

 whistle." It occurs stragglingly on the coasts of Germany. Borggreve says that he once 

 obtained it on the Hiddensee, near the Baltic, and once on Sylt, in the North Sea ; and Boeck 

 procured it on the Pomeranian coast in February. Mr. E. von Homeyer says that, though rare 

 on the Baltic coast, it occurs in large numbers on the coast of Schleswig-Holstein ; and Mr. A. 

 Benzon informs me that it only remains in Denmark during mild winters, and usually migrates 

 further south. It is therefore most numerous during the two seasons of passage. As regards 

 Kjserbolling's statement that it breeds there, he says that there is no foundation for such a state- 

 ment, and that, as far as he can ascertain, it has never been met with in Denmark later than 

 May. Its common Danish name is, he adds, " Vintersneppe ; and it is not known to the peasantry 

 by the names of Strandryle and Sortgraa-Strandlbber." On the coast of Holland it is met with 

 during winter ; and Baron von Droste Hulshoff adds that it probably visits Borkum every winter, 

 but has been overlooked ; and it has, he adds, been seen there as late as the 3rd of May. Baron 

 de Selys Longchamps states that in Belgium it is not common on the coast and on the Scheldt, 

 and is never seen on the marshes in the interior. In France it occurs on passage in the northern 

 provinces, but is not seen every year. Professor Barboza du Bocage includes it in his list of 

 birds inhabiting Portugal, with a query; and Colonel Irby states (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 172) that it 

 occurs on the coast of Spain not uncommonly during the winter. In Italy it is of rare occurrence ; 



