BRITISH BIRDS 



in Sussex in 1912 and 1914, both in the month of September. Baird's Sandpiper 

 inhabits the Arctic shores of North America during the breeding season, whence it 

 migrates in winter to the southern parts of the New World, ranging as far as 

 Argentina and Chili. 



In habits this bird does not appear to differ from others of the genus, and nests 

 on the ground amongst grass. According to the late H. E. Dresser {A Manual of 

 Palcearctic Birds, vol. ii. p. 768) it lays four eggs of "a light creamy buff, some- 

 times tinged with rusty, thickly speckled and spotted with deep reddish brown or 

 chestnut." 



The specimen shown in the plate was painted from a bird in Lord Rothschild's 

 collection, obtained in British Columbia in August. In winter the colour of the 

 upper parts becomes greyer, with dusky central streaks on the feathers. 



BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER. 

 Tringa ftiscicollis, Vieillot. 

 Plate 66. 



Bonaparte's Sandpiper only occasionally wanders to our country from America, 

 having been obtained fourteen times in England, and once or possibly twice in 

 Ireland. It breeds far northwards in the Arctic wastes of America, and in winter 

 migrates to the southern parts of the Continent and to the Falkland Islands. 



The nest, a slight depression in the ground, with a scanty lining of withered 

 leaves, contains four eggs of a dull rufous or greyish-buff colour, blotched with deep 

 brown. 



Dr. E. Coues observed this species on rocky coasts, and describes its note as a 

 soft, low weet, differing from that of other Sandpipers. The food consists chiefly 

 of insects and tiny shell-fish. 



The bird in the plate was drawn from a male in summer plumage, obtained at 

 Pt. Barrow, Alaska, early in July. In winter the upper parts become greyer, with 

 dusky streaks in the centre of the feathers, and the dark marks on the breast are 

 paler. The female, according to Howard Saunders' Manual, is "a trifle larger and 

 more richly coloured." 



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