projecting- tuft of grass or rush, where it scrapes rather a deep hole in the ground, and lines it vvith dried 
grass, leaves, and other materials. Tlie eggs are four in number, of a cream-yellow colour, with numerous 
spots of dark brown upon the surface, and others of a lighter hue appearing as if beneath the surface of 
the shell.” “ They are pyriform, and placed with the narrow ends together, so as to occupy less space 
and “ they are so disproportionately large,” says Macgillivray, “ that one is apt to marvel how so small a 
bird could have laid them, their average length being an inch and four-twelfths, and their greatest breadth 
an inch.” “ If disturbed during the period of incubation,” continues Mr. Selby, “ the female quits the nest 
as quietly as possible, and usually flies to a distance, making no outcry. As soon, however, as the young 
are hatched, her manners completely alter ; she becomes gi-eatly agitated on the apprehension of danger, 
and every stratagem is resorted to, such as feigning lameness and inability of flight, to divert the attention 
of the intruder from the unfledged brood. As soon as batched, the young quit the nest, and in the course 
of three weeks are nearly able to fly. If discovered and an attempt be made to catch them before they are 
fully fledged, they boldly take to the water and dive to a considerable distance.” 
“Of all our summer birds of passage,” says Mr. Thompson, “the Sandpiper, so attractive from its 
beautifully bronzed plumage, lively motions, loud piping note, and graceful curving flight, is the most widely 
dispersed, and the least choice as to locality, a mere sufficiency of water in any form being apparently the 
only essential to its presence. In the petty tarns situated amid the sublime scenery of our lofty mountains, 
as at Lough Salt in Donegal, on the low aud extensive shores of our three greatest lakes — Lough Neagh, 
Erne, and Corrib, around the richly wooded and rocky shores of Killarney, as well as about lakes of every 
intermediate size and physical character, I have remarked this species. It is also found at the lofty source 
of our springs and brooks, in the beds of rocky torrents and gently flowing streams, and along the banks 
of the largest rivers, until, in their gathered might, they move majestically to mingle with the ocean. Here, 
again, on shores of every description — the soft oozy beach, the sand, the gravel, about the Norway-like 
fiord the Killeries in Connemara, and the iron-bound coast of Antrim, Including the Giant’s Causeway itself 
— its piping note proclaims its presence.” 
So far as I am aware, the Summer Snipe does not breed on the banks of the Thames or any of its tribu- 
taries ; but we know that it constructs its slight nest and rears its young in all suitable situations in Derby- 
shire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Scotland, and Ireland. 
The young are very peculiar in their appearance, and in their markings very much resemble youthful 
Avocets and long-legged Plovers. These little creatures, even before the appearance of their tail-feathers, 
run over the shingle with great agility, and readily screen themselves from observation by creeping under a 
stone, into a crevice in the earth, or among the herbage on the river-side. 
The sexes are alike in plumage, and may be thus described : — 
The head, all the upper surface, wing-coverts, and tertiaries greenish olive with a bronzy lustre; the 
feathers of the head and back with a streak of dark brown down the centre, and the wing-coverts crossed by 
numerous Irregular bars of the same hue; primaries brown, glossed with bronze, with a narrow edging of 
white at the tip, and a broader mark of white along the basal portion of the inner web ; secondaries white 
at the base, bronzy olive for the remainder of their length, with a narrow edging of white at the tip ; above 
the eye a stripe of white ; sides of the neck and breast pale olive ; throat, centre of the neck, and all the 
under surface white ; tail bronzy olive, the central feathers with a crescent of black at the tip, the next two 
or three on each side lighter, spotted with dark hrown on each web, crossed with black near the end, and 
tipped with white ; the outer feathers on each side the same, except that the external web is white instead 
of bronzy olive ; the remainder of the bill pale flesh-colour, tip of the upper and the greater part of the 
under mandible dark brown ; irides blackish brown ; legs and feet pale greenish white. 
The young in the first autumn are similar in colour, but have the whole of the upper surface of the body, 
under mandible, wings, and tail conspicuously barred Avith broAvn. 
In the downy state, or AAhen about tAvo days old, a conspicuous line of black runs from the base of the 
bill through the eye to the occiput, and a similar dark line runs down the centre of the back ; the upper 
surface is mottled with broAvn and grey ; the under surface pure white ; the legs fleshy Avhite. 
Tlie Plate represents a male, a female, a nest of young ones, and an egg, all of the size of nature. 
