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The present species of Sandpiper is but seldom seen on the sea-coast ; for it aifects inland 

 pieces of water, even during the seasons of passage ; and in the breeding-season it frequents the 

 woodlands in places where there is water in the immediate vicinity. It prefers small ponds or 

 quiet nooks where there is good shelter to the large morasses, or the shores of lakes, where 

 the other species of Sandpipers are so frequently met with. When in Germany and Finland I 

 used to meet with it in small ponds in the woodlands, or where a ditch was well shaded with 

 alders and other bushes which grow in damp localities ; and I scarcely remember to have seen it 

 in the large open marshes which are so numerous in the latter country. It is shy and very 

 difficult of approach ; for it detects the presence of a stranger at a considerable distance, and beats 

 a retreat long before danger threatens. If suddenly surprised, as it sometimes may be when in 

 a densely wooded place, it starts up hurriedly and flies swiftly off, not uttering a sound until it 

 has traversed a considerable distance ; but when it can see danger from afar and takes wing in 

 good time, it utters its clear, loud alarm-note, which resembles the syllables dleedleedlee uttered 

 quickly ; and it seldom or never utters it singly, like dlee, but always two or three times in succes- 

 sion. Its flight is swift and graceful, the wings not being far extended, but only so that the 

 outer primaries form almost parallel lines with the legs and neck, which are stretched out behind 

 and in front. It sometimes traverses a considerable distance with but few strokes of the wing ; 

 but just before it alights it hovers a little, and then the wings are extended much more than in 

 its usual flight. Like its allies it is a migrant, arriving at its breeding-haunts in April, and 

 leaving again for warmer climes late in August or in September; and when on passage it is 

 never seen in large flocks like many of the Sandpipers, but in small family parties, or else 

 singly or in pairs ; and being secretive in its habits, it probably appears to be more rare than it 

 really is. It feeds entirely on insects which are found in or near the water, larva? of the common 

 gnat, water-insects of various sorts, and small worms, which soon become a semifluid-like mass in 

 its stomach. Naumann remarks that in April he has frequently found in its stomach a reddish 

 larva about as thick as a knitting-needle, and numbers of a small thread-like white maggot inter- 

 mixed with a greenish substance, but never any trace of vegetable matter. 



The Green Sandpiper is very peculiar in its mode of nidification ; for, contrary to the usual 

 mode of nesting of other allied species, it deposits its eggs in old nests situated in trees, and does 

 not nest on the ground. Mr. Hintz, who was, I believe, the first to publish a detailed account of 

 the breeding-habits of this bird, says (J. f. O. 1862, p. 460), " already in 1834 I found the first nest 

 that I recorded, on the 26th April, in an old nest of Turdus musicus. But even before that (as 

 early as 1818) I found nests ; but as I had no facilities for exchanging, I took only a few sets for 

 my own collection, and did not take much notice of it until 1852. In that year, however, I found 

 on the 15th May a nest with four eggs, about four days incubated, in an old Thrush's nest ; on the 

 18th May four just fledged young were taken close to the Eadue shore in a very old nest, and the 

 eggs were lying on dry conifer-spines. In 1855, on the 6th May, three eggs, about four days 

 incubated, were taken on a fir about 18 feet high, in an old Pigeon's or Jay's nest. In 1856, on 

 the 24th April four eggs, on the 19th May four fresh eggs, 22nd June four eggs nearly hatched, 

 all in old Thrush's nests. In 1857, on the 16th April three eggs, and the bird was still laying, 

 1st June four eggs about three days incubated, 18th June three fresh eggs, all in Thrush's nests. 

 In 1859, one clutch with four fresh eggs, 15th May lately hatched young, 29th May three 



