1^8 
GREEN SANDPIPER. 
coverts and all the under parts are pure white, except 
the fore part of the neck, which is varied with small 
brown dots : the tail is pure white, with its two 
middle feathers marked with three or four broad 
black bands, and those next to them decreasing in 
the number of bars towards the outside feathers, 
which are quite plain : the beak is black, with its 
base greenish : the legs are ashy-green. The young 
have all the upper parts of a brighter and more 
cinereous tinge : the feathers are edged with a narrow 
reddish band, and are sprinkled with very small yel- 
lowish dots : the white at the base of the tail is nar- 
rower, and the black bars on the tail itself are broader 
than in the old birds. 
This species delights in the borders of fresh lakes 
and pools of water in preference to the sea-coasts : 
it is a solitary bird, seldom more than a pair being 
seen together, and that only in the breeding season : 
it arrives in England about the middle of September, 
and departs at the end of April to breed, which it is 
said to do in the central countries of Europe, forming 
its nest of grasses, &;c. at the borders of the water, 
and laying four or five eggs, which are greenish-white 
spotted with brown. It inhabits the greater portion 
of Europe, as far as Iceland, and has also been ob- 
served in Siberia. 
