GAM BET. 189 



This bird weighs from fourteen to sixteen ounces ; length fourteen 

 inches ; the bill is red towards the base ; greenish at the point ; irides 

 reddish hazel ; the crown of the head and whole upper parts are of a 

 deep olive brown ; the under parts cinereous ; ridge of the wing and 

 under tail coverts white ; in some there are two or three white feathers 

 at the base of the thigh ; legs and toes dusky green ; above the knee is 

 a garter of red. 



The female is less than the male, and wants the red on the bill. 

 This mark, however, is most conspicuous in the spring. 



This is a very common species, found in most sedgy and slow rivers, 

 or streams of water, and frequently in ponds abounding with weeds, 

 where it can lie concealed. 



Its food is principally insects, seeds, and vegetable productions of 

 various sorts, for which it frequently quits the water. It runs fast, and 

 is equally expert in swimming and diving, although the feet do not 

 seem calculated for the latter. It is continually flirting up the tail as 

 it runs or swims, at which time the white underneath is very con- 

 spicuous. 



The nest is made of flags or rushes, which is placed near the surface 

 of the water on some branch of a tree or bush ; sometimes on the stump 

 of an old willow. The eggs are nine or ten in number, but most com- 

 monly five or six, of a light yellowish brown, marked with rust-coloured 

 spots. The young are hatched in about three weeks, and instantly take 

 the water : they are covered with a black down. When disturbed will 

 frequently perch. It flies badly, with its legs hanging down. In the act 

 of diving the wings are used as fins, like most others of the aquatic tribe. 



The breed of this bird is very much destroyed by summer floods in 

 our rivers. By reason of their nests being placed so near the water, 

 the eggs are continually swept away. The young are frequently 

 destroyed by fish of prey; and we have taken an old bird out of the 

 stomach of a pike. It is found in many parts of Europe and America. 



GALLWELL DRAKE.— A name for the Land Rail. 



GAMBET (Totanus Calidris, Bechstein.) 



Tringa gambetta, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 248. 3.—Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 671.— Tnd. Orn. 2. 

 p. 728. 9.— Gambetta, Rati, Syn. p. 107. 2.— Will, p. 222.— Ib. (Angl.) p. 300. 

 Gallina erythropus, Will. p. 221. — Totanus ruber, firiss. 5. p. 192. 4. — lb. 8vo. 

 2. p. 262.— Red Shank, Flem. Br. Anim. p. 102,— Mont. Supp.— Red-legged 

 Horseman, Albin, 2. t. 68.— Gambet Sandpiper, Br. Zool. 2. No. 198. t. 70.— 

 Arct. Zool. 2. No. 394.— Lath. Syn. 5. p. 167. 9.— Lewin's Br. Birds, 5. t. 168. 

 — Bewick's Br. Birds, 2. p. 113. — Striated Sandpiper, Lath. Syn. 5. p. 176. 



This species, we are informed by Mr. Pennant, has been shot on 



the coast of Lincolnshire. He describes it to be the size of the green- 



