S SCOLOPACID-E. 



sandpiper travels during the night : towards sunset it begins 

 to shew great restlessness, and continues to fly about until 

 dark, uttering its pleasing whistle, when it rises high in the 

 air, and moves off in a southern direction. 



The localities frequented by the Common Sandpiper are 

 the banks of rivers of all dimensions, whether the country is 

 flat or hilly, or the district open or wooded ; but the rivers 

 or streams, whose height is continually varied through floods, 

 tides, or the effects of locks and weirs, are preferred, in as 

 much as the receding water is sure to leave behind a fresh 

 supply of food upon the exposed gravel or mud. 



There is no other species of this present family that seems 

 so frequently to be seen among osier plantations^ and other 

 cover that skirts the water's edge. When in pursuit of this 

 bird, we most generally find it on the gravelly wet banks near 

 the water ; on large moss-grown stones in the river ; on the 

 flat wood-work over which water runs continually, and where 

 the slippery weeds hang about the same ; and also in 

 shallow water, where the current has no strength to wash the 

 bird off its feet. 



It is a very pretty sight to see this bird run over the sur- 

 face of the leaves of the water-lily, and amusing to observe 

 how it is sometimes disturbed and tormented by the pied 

 wagtail, its frequent associate in these localities, during which 

 time the Sandpiper expresses its impatience by uttering its 

 high note of disapproval. 



The flight of the Sandpiper is easy and swift : when flying- 

 only to a short distance, it skims close over the surface of 

 the water, and most generally settles again very nearly oppo- 

 site to the place it started from ; when, on the contrary, it is 

 leaving the neighbourhood, it flies at a tolerable elevation. 

 We are told that this bird is very well able to swim and even 

 dive, but we have never experienced this ourselves, although 

 the snipe sometimes swims as well as a rat. a circumstance 



