BRITISH BIRDS 



THE GREEN SANDPIPER. 

 Totanus ochropus (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 68. 



The Green Sandpiper is fairly common on passage in some localities in the 

 British Islands, where a few birds remain during the winter, though seldom 

 throughout the summer months. 



It breeds in the northern parts of Europe and Asia, migrating southwards 

 when winter approaches as far as Africa, Southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, 

 and even on rare occasions to Australia. 



The breeding habits of this Sandpiper are noteworthy, insomuch as this species 

 and its near relation the Solitary Sandpiper are apparently the only members of the 

 group which nest in trees, sometimes at some considerable height from the 

 ground, and, at least as regards the present species, always in the neighbour- 

 hood of water. 



The four eggs, in colour a delicate greenish-grey, spotted with purplish-brown, 

 are usually deposited in the abandoned nests of various birds, such as Thrushes, 

 Jays, and Wood-pigeons, or in Squirrels' " dreys." At other times the eggs are laid 

 on mossy stumps of trees or even on the ground. 



The late Lord Lilford, in his Birds of Northamptonshire and Neighbourhood 

 (vol. ii. p. 89), says : "The Green Sandpiper is, in my experience, a very wary bird, 

 and a very great nuisance to the Snipe-shooter, as, rising wildly, it darts up into the 

 air, with a shrill trisyllabic whistle, which puts all the Snipes within hearing on 

 the alert ; in common with most of our waders, however, it soon becomes reconciled 

 to captivity, and feeds readily on small worms and chopped meat ; it is a good 

 swimmer, but I have never seen one of this species attempt to dive as the 

 Common Sandpiper often does when wounded and fallen into water and chased 

 by a dog." 



On rising from the ground the white upper-tail coverts are very conspicuous in 

 this bird, which help to identify it. 



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