616 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



TRINGA OCHROPUS 



408. Tringa ochropus L.— THE GREEN SANDPIPER. 



Tringa Ocrophus* Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 149 (1758 — " Habitat 



in Europa." Restricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Totanus ochropus (Linnaeus), Yarrell, in, p. 457 ; Saunders, p. 609. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter. — Crown and nape 

 grey-brown ; mantle and scapulars olive -brown, feathers with dark 

 shafts and grey-brown tips, some faintly notched light buff and 

 black-brown (most numerous and pronounced on scapulars) ; back 

 and rump oh ve -brown, feathers edged white ; upper tail-coverts 

 white ; from base of upper mandible to above centre of eye a white 

 band, some feathers spotted grey-brown ; loral streak olive -brown ; 

 cheeks white streaked olive -brown ; chin white ; throat and centre 

 of upper-breast white streaked olive-brown ; sides of neck and 

 upper-breast grey-brown ; flanks white (sometimes a few olive- 

 brown bars) ; axillaries sepia narrowly barred white ; under wing- 

 coverts sepia, edged and some barred white ; tail-feathers white 

 broadly banded black-brown, bands more or less coalescing on 

 central pair, three outer pairs more or less white ; primaries blackish 

 olive-brown, inner webs paler ; secondaries olive-brown, innermost 

 and coverts as scapulars ; primary-coverts black-brown ; greater 

 coverts olive-brown, some faintly notched light buff and sepia ; 

 median and lower lesser coverts as mantle, upper lesser coverts 

 uniform olive-brown faintly edged white, innermost median and 

 lesser narrowly tipped white and some notched at sides light buff. 

 This plumage is acquired by complete moult Aug. to Dec. Summer. 

 — The body -feathers (not always all scapulars), usually tail-feathers, 

 some innermost secondaries and coverts, usually some median and 

 lesser coverts are moulted Dec. to May but not rest of wings. 

 Resembles winter plumage but crown and nape broadly streaked 

 olive -brown, feathers bordered and notched white at sides ; feathers 

 of mantle and scapulars with larger and more numerous notches of 

 white or light buff and sepia, scapulars faintly tipped white ; remain- 

 ing upper -parts as winter ; cheeks, sides of neck, lower -throat and 

 upper -breast white heavily streaked olive -brown, feathers at sides 

 of upper-breast olive-brown, notched, tipped and irregularly marked 

 white ; remaining under -parts and tail as winter ; wing as winter 

 but innermost secondaries and coverts as scapulars, new median 

 coverts with larger and more numerous white and sepia notches. 



Nestling. — Like nestling Wood-Sandpiper but crown more 

 broken up with light pink-cinnamon ; nape black-brown, down 

 with greyish-white tips ; remaining upper -parts as in Wood- 

 Sandpiper but intermixed with deeper pink-cinnamon ; eye -stripe 

 and cheeks greyish-white ; upper-breast white, down with sooty- 

 black bases. 



Juvenile. — Like adult winter but crown and nape olive -brown, 



* In " ocrophus " the h was evidently misplaced, and we should correct 

 the spelling to ochropus, for which it was meant. — E.H. 



