Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 15, NIC-PAR

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ORNITHOLOGY.
back, violet; throat and tail dusky ; four outer tail fea- their sweep
J thers very short, and edged with white. Size of a stare.
Inhabits Norway and Iceland. A small flock of this
species, consisting of 10 or 12, was once observed, some
years ago, near Bexhill, on the 8th of December.
Common sandpiper..—Bill smooth ; legs livid ; body
cinereous, with black stripes, white beneath; bill brown;
irides hazel ; head brown, with black streaks ; eyebrows
white ; neck cinereous above ; back and wings greenish-
brown, with numerous, narrow, dusky lines ; quill fea¬
thers brown, and, except the first, with a white spot
within ; tail rounded, and glossy-green brown. Weight
about two ounces ; length seven inches and a half. In¬
habits Europe and America. Visits this country in the
spring, chiefly frequenting our lakes and rivers, on the
borders of which it makes a nest composed of moss and
dried leaves, and most commonly placed in a hole in the
bank. It lays four or five eggs of a dirty white, mark¬
ed with dusky and cinereous spots, mostly at the larger
end. When disturbed, it makes a piping noise as it
flies ; and, when running on the ground, the tail is con¬
stantly in motion. In autumn it is liable to be much
infested with the hippobosca hirundinis.
Knot.— Bill smooth ; legs ash-coloured ; primary quill
feathers serrated ; outermost tail feather white, without
spots; bill dusky ash ; irides hazel; lores dusky; eye¬
brows and band on the wings white ; body cinereous
above, white beneath ; lower wing-coverts tipt with
white ; chin and breast with minute spots ; belly and
vent with dusky lines ; rump with brown semicircles.
Nine inches long, and weighs four ounces and a half.
Inhabits Europe and America. In Lincolnshire, and
the other fenny districts of England, it is caught, in
great numbers, by nets, into which it is decoyed by
carved wooden figures to represent itself. It is also fat¬
tened for sale, and esteemed by many equal to the ruff
in the delicacy of its flavour. The season for taking it
is from August to November, after which the frost com¬
pels it to disappear. This bird is said to have been a
favourite dish with Canute king of England ; and Cam¬
den remarks that its name is derived from his.
Stint, purre, or sunder ling.—Bill and legs black ;
lores white ; body and rump gray and brown ; head and
neck pale cinereous above, with brown streaks ; back
and wing-coverts brownish-ash, the greater tipt with
white; throat white, mixed with brown; breast and
belly white ; two middle tail feathers more dusky, the
rest edged with white : the legs are sometimes brown.
The country people frequently call it ox-bird, ox-eye,
least snipe, sea-lark, or wagtail. It is nearly eight inches
in length, and weighs about an ounce and three quar¬
ters. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and America. During
winter it is found on all our coasts, appearing in vast
flocks, and especially ailecting the flat sandy shores and
inlets. They leave us in April, though it is suspected
that some remain with us all the year. These birds run
nimbly near the edges of the flowing and retiring waves,
and are almost perpetually wagging their tails, w'hile
they are, at the same time, busily employed in picking
up their food, which consists chiefly of small worms and
insects. On taking flight, they give a kind of scream,
and skim along the surface of the water with great rapi¬
dity, as well as with great regularity, not flying directly
forward, but performing their evolutions in large semi¬
circles, alternately approaching the shore and the sea in
525
the curvature of their course being indi- Grallw.
cated by the flocks appearing suddenly and alternately -v — ■'
in a dark or in a snowy-white colour, as their backs or
their bellies are turned to or from the spectator.
Little sandpiper.—Bill and legs brown ; body reddish Pusilla.
beneath ; outer tail feathers with a white shaft; rump
variegated ; bill tipt with black ; greater wing-coverts
and quill feathers brown, tipt with white ; tail dusky ;
breast and belly white. About the size of a hedge-spar¬
row’, and between five and six inches long. Inhabits
Northern Europe and Nootka Sound; and has been
once or twice killed in England. -,9
Gray sandpiper.—Bill black; legs greenish; body S/giatarota.
gray, white beneath ; head, back, and wing-coverts,
edged with greenish-ash ; cheeks and chin with oblong
dusky spots, and with the belly and rump white ; tail
barred with black and white. Weight about 7 ounces ;
length 1 2 inches. Inhabits Europe and America. Is
not plentiful on our shores, seldom more than six or seven
being seen in a flock, and all of them retiring north¬
ward to breed. In Siberia and Carolina, it is said to
be found in large flocks.
Red or Aberdeen sandpiper.—Bill and legs brown ; Islandica.
body ferruginous beneath; secondary quill feathers edged
with white ; body thickly sprinkled with black, and fer¬
ruginous above ; wing-coverts white on the outer edge ;
rump and Vent whitish, the former waved with black,
the latter with a few black streaks ; quill feathers black,
with white shafts; tail feathers cinereous, with white
shafts. From eight to ten inches long. Inhabits the
north of Europe and America. Sometimes appears in
great flocks on the coasts of Essex and the north of Scot¬
land. In summer it frequents the neighbourhood of the
Caspian sea, and also the river Don. It is perpetually
running up and down on the sandy banks, picking up
insects and small worms, on which it feeds.
Gen. 56. Charadrius, Plover.
5S1
Charajoki-
cs.
Bill roundish, obtuse, straight; nostrils linear; feet 582
formed for running, three-toed. Characters.
The birds of this genus frequent the mouths of ri¬
vers, and the neighbourhood of torrents, and seem to
enjoy rainy weather. From this last circumstance is
derived their French name pluvier, and the English
plotter.
Ring plover, ring dotterel, ox sea lark.—Breast black; Hiaticula.
front blackish, with a white band ; crown brown ; legs
yellow ; upper half of the hill orange, lower black ; iri¬
des hazel ; body gray brown above, white beneath ;
eggs bluish-white, with small round purplish spots. Of
this species there is also a gray varietv, with the collar
and belly white ; and another gray-ash, with the front
and collar white, and the lower half of the tail black,
tipt with rusty ; the former inhabiting Spain, and the
latter America. The more common sort is a native of
both Europe and America, and is a well known visitant
of our shores in summer; usually arriving in spring, and
migrating in autumn, or at least retiring to the more in¬
land parts of the country. It weighs about two ounces,
and is between seven and eight inches long. It pairs
early in May, and makes no nest, but lavs four eggs in
a small cavity in the sand, just above high-water mark.
They are of a cinereous brown, marked all over with
small black and ash-coloured spots. It is to be remark¬
ed