394 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



GREEN SANDPIPER. 



Totanus ochropas (L.). 



The beginning of the ' open ' season is always a little disap- 

 pointing to those who ' follow the marsh.' In other words, 

 the species to be met with on our saltings during August con- 

 sist chiefly of home-bred birds ; the bulk of the ' foreigners ' 

 arrive a few weeks later. But the Green Sandpiper affords a 

 pleasant exception to this rule. By the end of July one has 

 grown tired of the Redshanks and Dunlins, of the Ringed 

 Plover, Curlews, and Oystercatchers ; their notes have lost all 

 freshness for our ears, while their flight is viewed with in- 

 difference. One of the first additions to our air fauna at this 

 juncture is usually the Green Sandpiper, freshly arrived, we 

 may suppose, from some nursery in Scandinavia or North 

 Germany. But, wherever the bird comes from, it is a relief to our 

 jaded feelings to flush this favourite acquaintance out of a muddy 

 creek, and to hear its loud shrill whistle as the bird of white 

 coverts speeds rapidly away from danger. From the last days 

 of July to the beginning of October a few Green Sandpipers 

 are generally to be found on our coast marshes. One day, 

 perhaps, you may flush a couple from the margin of one of our 

 loughs ; another afternoon, you may possibly walk almost on to 

 the top of a Green Sandpiper that is feeding busily in some soft 

 oozy mud at the edge of a salting. It is not numerous enough 

 to be gregarious in its habits. I have never seen it associate 

 with any other species of Sandpiper. The largest party of Green 

 Sandpipers that I ever saw only numbered six individuals, and 

 they only gathered together, I fancy, because a high tide was fast 

 covering Rockliffe marsh. That occurred on the 8th of October 

 1889. But the species is far too scarce to be gregarious with 

 its own kind, at least in Lakeland. Inland, it is especially 

 uncommon, but it is quite a scarce bird on all parts of our 

 coast. I only know of three examples killed in Lakeland in 

 the winter-time. The first to come under my notice was killed 

 near Cardew Lees on January 3, 1885. The second was shot 

 on the Eden, December 18, 1891. I dissected the bodies and 



