272 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
make it look a larger bird, though a very light and 
graceful one. The nest is built in May or early 
June ; it is a slight lining of dry stems and grass, 
placed in some tussock of grass, heather, or other 
suitable vegetation. The eggs are very large for 
the small size of the bird, very pointed in shape, 
and in other respects much like a smaller Snipe's ; 
they are various tints of clear greenish- or yellowish- 
brown in ground colour, handsomely blotched and 
spotted with rich brown in two or three different 
shades. 
COMMON SANDPIPER. 
(jTotanus hypoleucus.) 
Summer Snipe, Sand Lark. — The Sandpiper is a 
summer visitor well known along the gravelly 
margin of many lakes, rivers, and streams in the 
hilly regions of the north and west, from April to 
September ; while it is often to be seen in April 
and May, and less frequently in autumn, haunting 
the streams of the lower parts of England on its 
way to and from its summer home. It has a swift, 
skimming flight, generally accompanied by a thin, 
shrill cry. In plumage it is brownish-grey above, 
paler grey on the neck and upper breast, and 
silvery white on the throat and belly ; there is also 
some white at the tip of the outer tail feathers, but 
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