i6o The Scottish Natitralist. 
but is met with on the banks as well, where thickets of butterbur 
{Petasites vulgaris)^ clumps of grass or heather, serve to conceal 
the eggs. The birds reach their breeding quarters about the fourth 
week of April. 
Green Sandpiper {Totanus ochropus). Found in the district 
in autumn, very rarely, but a specimen was observed at Rox- 
burgh Mill, on the Teviot, in 1875, ^^^d another at Crailing, on 
Oxnam Water, in 1876, both in November. 
Wood Sandpiper {Totanus glareola). Has not been shot 
nearer than Holy Island. 
Redshank {Totanus calidris\ An occasional pair may be 
observed in summer on the moors near Melrose, which no 
doubt breed there, as they do in inland parts of the neighbouring 
counties. But the major part of our resident birds on the Borders 
certainly rest on the coast lands. They may be met with on the 
rivers in July and August : probably they are then on their way 
from the higher grounds to the sea. 
Spotted" Redshank {Totanus fuscus). Twice recorded from 
the sands at Holy Island, but no nearer. 
Greenshank {Totanus canescens). Not by any means un- 
common on the nearest parts of the East Coast in winter ; and 
in 1888 a pair certainly bred on a heather-covered moor, 
interspersed with small lochs, in Roxburghshire. I saw the hen, 
unmistakably with young, in the month of August. She flew 
round in a state of the greatest excitement, with the usual shrill 
cry, never going many yards away, and occasionally perching on 
an old rail on the moor ; moreover I found a nest, lately used, 
which probably belonged to the same bird. In September an 
example has been observed on the Teviot, near Nisbet. 
Bar-Tailed Godwit {Limosa lapponica). The common God- 
wit of the East Coast from September onwards, but it does not 
reach inland to Melrose even as a straggler. Specimens are 
sometimes shot on the shore in summer plumage. 
Black-Tailed Godwit {Limosa belgica). Only occurs at 
long intervals even on the North Northumberland coast, and 
never inland. 
Curlew {Nuinejiius arquata). Universally distributed over the 
moors, where it arrives at the end of April and begins to breed at 
once. 
Whimbrel {Numenius phoeopus). Another species usually 
