young' In the downy state, and partially feathered, I only obtained one nest of eggs. The nest is generally 
])laced at a short distance from the water, among stunted heath or scrubby plants of the bog-myrtle, or 
among coarse grass and rashes. It is placed in a hollow and is constructed of dry grass and other plants. 
The eggs are four in niimher.” 
The late Mr. John Wolley, writing to Mr. Hewitson from Lapland, says : — 
“ rile Wood Sandpiper breeds in both great and small marshes, and in wet places, even on the slope of 
a hill, as happened this spring within a hundred yards of where I am now writing, in a place where we were 
often passing. Looking out of my window almost any time in the summer, I could see several of these 
birds standing on the tops of stakes, and perhaps hear them crying leero, leero, or uttering their notes of 
alarm. It is beautiful to see the M^ood-Sandpiper playing in the air in the early spring. It rises to a great 
height, and then, suddenly steadying its wings and keeping them open, it glides gently upwards for a short 
distance, and down again on the other side of the little arch it so forms upon the former line of its course. 
This unexpected play in the flight has a very pretty effect, it is done so easily and gracefully.” 
Respecting the nest mentioned above as having been found by Mr. Hancock, Mr. Hewitson says, “ On 
the 3rd of June 1853, he succeeded, after a long and persevering watch, in discovering the nest and eggs 
of this species for the first time in Britain, at Prestwick Carr, near Newcastle. ‘The nest,’” says Mr. Han- 
cock, “ ‘ was situated on a hillock in a marshy part of the carr, amongst heather and long grass, a situation 
perfectly similar to that in which the Snipe builds. It is composed of fine grass or carex, loosely put 
together, and measures three inches inside diameter, and two inches deep. The eggs were quite fresh. 
A friend shot the parent bird, which is now in my collection.’ ” 
Mr. Yarrell describes the eggs as “pointed in shape, of a pale greenish-white, spotted and speckled, par- 
ticularly over the broad end, with dark reddish-brown, and as measuring one inch and seven lines in length 
by one inch and half a line in breadth.” 
The food consists of worms, small snails, insects and their larvae. 
“The Wood-Sandpiper,” says Mr. Wheelwright, in his ‘Spring and Summer in Lapland,’ “was very 
common here; and far different are the quiet unobtrusive habits of this little bird during the breeding- 
season to the boisterous, noisy behaviour of its congener the Green Sandpiper. Early in the summer the 
Wood-Sandpiper utters a pretty little song, which it trills out when seated on a tussock of grass, or when 
rising in the air in the vicinity of the nest. I have much oftener seen this bird seated on a tree or on a rail 
than the Green Sandpiper, although that bird will occasionally perch.” 
Mr. Stevenson informs me that, “ compared with the Green Sandpiper, the present bird is a scarce migrant 
in Norfolk, and has become more so of late years, the few specimens procured being killed on their 
migratory passage in April and May and again in August and September.” 
Considerable difference occurs in the marking of the plumage at opposite seasons of the year. In summer 
the neck is much more strongly marked and streaked than in winter. 
The Illustrations of this and the allied species, T. ochropus, will show very plainly how the two differ from 
each other. 
The Plate represents a male and a female in their summer dress, with a brood of young, all of the size of life. 
