T^TATURAL HISTORY. 
69 
Numenia arcuata, and the whimbrel, N. phwopus, 
have been met with on the rivers Severn and Teme. 
A specimen of the greenshank, Totanus glottis, was 
also shot on the Teme^ in December, 1826. The 
woodcock, Scolopax rusticola, the great snipe, S. 
major, the common snipe, S. gallinago, and the jack 
snipe, S.galUnula, all appear in our copses and watery 
places ; the first sometimes appearing as early as 
September 30th, and curious varieties occasionally 
occurring. The sandpiper, Totanus kypoleucos, is 
well known by its piping note, and flits across our 
streams in small companies during the summer season. 
The godwit, Limosa rufa, may be mentioned as one 
of our rare winter visitants. 
The lapwing, Vanellus cristatus, is very common 
in barren fields, especially about Crowle, and Bredon 
Hill, where large flocks of them unite in reiterating 
their singularly plaintive and discordant note. The 
sanderling, Calldris arenaria, is an uncommon visitor, 
but a specimen was shot on the Teme, in December, 
1826 ; and the green plover, Charadrius pluvialis, 
has been killed at Hill Furze, in the vicinity of Flad- 
bury. The thick-knee'd plover, CEdicnemus hellonii, 
extends its range just within the southern limits 
of our county, a few breeding among the stony barren 
parts of the Broadway and Bredon Hills. ^ The 
oyster-catcher, Hcematopus ostralegus, hardly occurs 
within our limits, but it has been shot, on the Teme, 
* A young bird of this species was caught alive in the summer of 1832, near 
Twining, and brought to Worcester, where it was identified by the Curator of our 
Museum. 
