BRITISH BIRDS 



Totanus glareola, our Wood Sandpiper. It breeds also at Fokstuen on the Dovre 

 Fjeld mountains, about three thousand feet above the level of the sea, in Norway, 

 where it arrives at the latter end of May. On its first appearance it is wild and 

 shy, and similar in its habits to the other species of the genus, feeding on the 

 grassy borders of the small pools and lakes in the morasses. On being disturbed 

 it soars to a great height in the air, rising and falling suddenly like the Snipe, 

 uttering the notes two woo, which are rapidly repeated. ... It seems to lay its 

 eggs later than others of this tribe generally. I found the eggs not sat upon on the 

 24th June, and the last week in July the young were unable to fly ; a period when 

 all the other Sandpipers are on the move south. The eggs were of a deep chocolate 

 colour, and its nest, like that of the Snipe, was on a hummocky tuft of grass." 



The Broad-billed Sandpiper feeds chiefly on insects and larvae, and is more 

 partial to fresh-water marshes than to the coast. In winter the general colour of 

 the upper parts is ashy-grey, when, except for its singularly broad bill, it is not 

 unlike the Dunlin at that season. 



A paler form of this species is found inhabiting Eastern Siberia. 



THE TEREK SANDPIPER. 



Terekia cinerea (Giildenstadt). 

 Plate 65. 



Two pairs of this rare species, which has never before been known to visit the 

 British Islands, were obtained on Romney Marsh, Kent, in May 19 12. 



According to the List of British Birds, published by the British Ornithologists' 

 Union (2nd ed. 1915), "The Terek Sandpiper breeds in north-eastern Europe and 

 north Siberia from the valley of the Onega in Russia, to the valley of the Kolyma, 

 in east Siberia, and probably to the Anadyr Peninsula ; on the Yenesei it ranges 

 to 70 N. latitude, southwards it breeds to about 51° N. in the Ural Mountains and 

 Central Asia, but has not been found breeding on the shores of the sea of Okhotsk. 

 In winter it visits the coasts of Africa, ranging south to Damaraland and Natal, 

 southern Asia, and the Malay Archipelago to Australia." 



This species is found along the courses of rivers and on the shores of fresh- 

 water lakes, it takes after the Common Sandpiper in its habits and food, and utters 

 a loud clear call-note. 



It lays four eggs in a slight hollow in the ground ; these are greyish-buff in 

 ground-colour, blotched and spotted with brown and purplish-grey. 



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