The nest is placed on the ground in a marshy spot, and when they have eggs or young the birds are extremely noisy if their haunts are invaded. In this country it is generally found on salt marshes near the sea and very rarely inland.
The sexes are alike: the back brown, spotted with white; upper tail coverts white; shafts of the quills dusky, except that of the outermost one, which is white. Under parts white, streaked with brown on the throat and breast, the flanks being barred with the same colour. Axillaries white. The young bird is similar, but the white spots are larger and more elongated, and the outer tail feathers are barred on both webs instead of on the outer one only. Length 8·5 in.; bill 1·1 in.; wing 5 in.
GREEN SANDPIPER
Totanus ochropus (Linnæus)
This is a much commoner species than the last, and haunts inland streams, especially in the neighbourhood of trees and woods. It is most numerous during the autumn migration, but many pass the winter with us, and it has been suspected of breeding on more than one occasion, but positive proof of this has not been forthcoming.
In the north and west of Scotland it is scarce, but otherwise it is widely distributed throughout the country. On the Continent it nests in marshy woods from the Arctic Circle southwards to Central Russia, Poland, and East Germany, its migrations extending to Africa in the winter.
In its nesting habits it differs from all others Sandpipers, for it lays its eggs in the deserted nest of some other bird, generally that of a Thrush, Blackbird, or Jay. The eggs are greenish grey, with small brownish spots. Its food consists of worms and insects.
In plumage it very closely resembles the preceding species, but the back is darker and the spots much more minute. It may, however, always be distinguished by the dusky shaft of the outermost primary and the brownish black axillaries. In young birds the spots on the back are less plentiful and of a more buffish tint. Length 9·5 in.; wing 5·5 in.
THE SOLITARY SANDPIPER
Totanus solitarius (Wilson)
This is an American species, which, like so many of its New World congeners, has occasionally and at long intervals straggled to these islands.
Its nearest ally is the preceding species, from which it may be recognised by having all the tail feathers, except the central pair, boldly barred with black. Length 8·25 in.; wing 5·2 in.