COMMON SANDPIPER. 
311 
two districts where it is certainly known to nest are in 
the New Forest and the Isle of Wight. 
Gilbert White did not reckon this species among the 
regular summer visitors to Selborne, but he alludes to it in 
the following passage ^ — " It is, I find, in zoology, as 
in botany ; all nature is so full, that that district produces 
the greatest variety which is the most examined. Several 
birds, which are said to belong to the north only, are, 
it seems, often in the south. I have discovered this 
summer three species of birds with us, which writers 
mention as only to be seen in the northern counties. 
The first that was brought me (on the 14th of May) was 
the sandpiper : it was a cock bird, and haunted the banks 
of some ponds near the village ; and, as it had a companion, 
doubtless intended to have bred near that water. Besides, 
the owner has told me since, that, on recollection, he has 
seen some of the same birds round his ponds in former 
summers." 
In the MS. Journal, on July 28th, 1788, he mentions 
seeing " the stint, or summer snipe " at Oakhanger. The 
bird still occurs in the same neighbourhood, though not, 
perhaps, so commonly as on the other side of the county. 
Bell, for instance, mentions an example obtained at the 
mill-stream, in July, i860. 
In the Itchen Valley it is known as a regular visitor. 
Dr. Bowdler Sharpe writes 2 that he has found it in 
May, in pairs, in full breeding-plumage, on the sides of the 
lake in Avington Park ; " and the specimens which my 
friend, the late Sir Edward Shelley, allowed me to procure 
for the British Museum, are preserved in the national 
collection. ... I found several pairs at Avington, where 
^ Letter xx. to Pennant. Selborne. October 3rd, 1768. 
^ " Lloyd's Natviral History." 
