THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Eggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour pale stone to light greenish-blue ; spotted, more at 
the larger end, with dark purplish-red spots and underlying ones of lavender ; 
axis 40-5 to 42 mm., diameter 28-5 to 29-5. 
Breeding-season. July (Seebohm, Siberia). 
This is the only Sandpiper that I know of which lays its eggs in the 
deserted nests of other birds, built in trees. 
“ I shot my first Green Sandpiper on the I5th of June, on the Arctic 
circle. It v,^as by no means a common bird. On the 6th of July at Egarka, 
in lat. 67°, I found a nest of this bird in a willow tree about six feet from the 
ground, containing one egg. I did not meet with it further north, but on my 
return journey early in August, I found it common on the banks of the river 
near Yen-e-saisk.”* 
“ One specimen killed in January. Very common in April ; disappears 
May, June, and July ; reappears in considerable numbers in the middle of 
August [in Gilgit].”t 
“ This wader comes from Quellande as well as from the mouth of the 
Amur, and we have specimens shot in both places. Maack found it for the 
first time on the 6 (18) of May on the Schilka not far from the village of 
Bjankina, and I shot it on the 5 (17) of May in the same year (1855) at the 
mouth of the Amur on the muddy ground of one of the willow-covered 
islands, in the Amur River, a little above Nikola jevschen. Evidently the first 
days of May and sometimes the last days of April were the usual time for its 
appearance in the Amur Lands. Our three specimens were adult males in 
full spring plumage.”! 
Middendorff {l.c.) says this species appeared in the Stanovi Mountains on 
May 4th, and from then on was fairly plentiful. The male frequently rose 
high in the air, wheeling about like a Snipe, but without making the humming 
sound of that bird. The note on the whole resembles that of a Snipe, but 
is more powerful and accompanied by a piping second note. It was fairly 
frequently seen in the south coast of the sea of Ochotsk. 
Radde (l.c.) records that during the summer of 1856 this species was seen 
fairly frequently in Dauria, chiefly in single pairs. 
Taczanowski (?.c.) says: “According to Dybowski and Godlewski, it is 
common in all the localities they visited from the Baikal to the Sea of Japan. 
It is to be found on the thinly-grassed borders of lakes, more especially in the 
middle of forests. In Autumn it is very numerous. It arrives in May ; 
disappears in September ; nests in small numbers in all localities. According 
♦ Seebohn, Ihia 1879, p. 152. 
f Biddulph, ih. 1881, p. 96. 
i Schrenck, Vogels des Armir-Landes, p. 416, 1860. 
204 
