GRALLATORES, SCOLOPAC1DAE.
|"?"Vjj|gig| -•■.-.' I
T H E WOOD SA N D P IPER .
Tringa glareola,
Totanus
Wood Sandpiper, P e n n . Brit. Zool. vol. li. p. 88.
,7 ,, «.-Mont. Oraith.rDfetfc
,, ,, Brit. B i r d s , joK ii. Pf. 99, v
, , , , F l e m . B r i t . A n . p V iD 3 .
„ V , - S e l b y , B r i t . ti>rni£ht, v o l . ii'. pVVT?74
‘ J e n y n s , B r i t . ‘V e r t . p.l198.
„ ' ' " Gquld, Birds of Eurqpe, ptr.,xv.
Chevalier sylvain, Temm. MA5i d’Ornith. vol. ii. p. 654.
T he W ood Sandpiper was first distinguished as a British
Bird by Colonel Montagu, who dearly pointed but the
specific differences between this species and the’ Green Sandpiper
last described. The birds are certainly somewhat alike,
not only in their appearance, but also in their habits, and
have been considered by some authors as merely varieties of
the same species; no doubt, however, now remains that these
two Sandpipers are perfectly distinct, and the species now
under consideration has the greater geographical range of the
ti(vb. The Wood Sandpiper has even become of much more
frequent* occurrence; of late years in this country than it was
f o rm e r ly I t is considered a summer visiter to the south of
Ireland, having.bletfi ste * byl Mi. R. Ball for several years
about the-;month of Jun^frequenting a stream in Glenbower
wood* ueamYtqjighal. E,' H. Redd, Esq. of Penzance, sent
me word thafflpf^n' specimens were, ^obtained in one day m
the month,ofjAugust last, 1840, near the Land’s End ; one
o f these Mrdsf ibCau tifully’ preserved, was soon afterwards
presented to to e& M m s and prove* te ib ^ a«young bird of
th'e*tf|^|^the' othMs were also •reportbdfto be young birds
of -the year. This- species has- been killed in the spring in
Essex. A.-ps$& of th^ge ^birds, as I learn from Mr. Henry
D o u b le d ^ v& lb b s d rid at a pond on Weald common, «ear
Epping, in -M a y » , i8#);,tbe-female>was shot and brought
to him: on /examination tbewggs/weie; found to be much
enlarged, ^f^peei^effs-/have been, killed in Cambridgeshire,
Suffolk, and1 Norfolk; and' M r . .® # has recorded'three instances
that have*, occurred in Durham and Northumberland.
■ Some particulars of the habits ofrthis bird, as observed by
the date .Mr. Hoyv'andk^mmumcatecL to Mr. Hewitson, are
thus detailed in hisay^rfe-on' the eggs of our British Birds.
i( This species - isimigratorymaking'its appearance in April,
and retiring im^Septeifiber. That it. breeds rather early I
infer, from having/abet with the young, feathered, and capable
of flying a short distance,- on the 11th of June. I
regret that I did not; discover the bird till late in the season.”
A great portion. of Dutch Brabant, more particularly the
southern and eastern parts, iare covered by large tracts of
heath ; the soil of a-light sandy nature. A great number of
peat bogs and shallow pools of water are dispersed over this
district. Most of the small streams are skirted by swampy
ground, where the bog myrtle grows in the greatest luxu