THE SPOTTED REDSHANK ON THE SOLWAY FIRTH 221 



Nicol saw a Peregrine chasing another Spotted Redshank 

 towards the Scottish foreshore). Four of the number have 

 been shot. Three of these are in the Carlisle Museum. 

 These specimens are in immature plumage. Indeed the 

 scanty data at our disposal refers exclusively to young birds, 

 which are more likely to stray from the usual lines of 

 migration than old birds. I notice that Mr. Howard 

 Saunders speaks of the Spotted Redshank as being more 

 partial to fresh water than the Common Redshank. 

 Indeed he observes that the Dusky Redshank " is seldom 

 seen by the sea." I do not suggest that the Spotted Red- 

 shank is partial to the open sea-coast ; probably it prefers 

 sheltered situations. But it is only fair to say that the 

 specimens seen on the Solway have frequented the shores 

 and creeks of a sandy estuary. They have fed alike on the 

 scaurs or mussel-beds, on the soft sand under the edge of 

 the marshes, and in the semi-liquid mud of the marsh creeks ; 

 never, however, venturing into any very narrow ditches. 

 I have been unlucky in dissecting Spotted Redshanks ; for 

 I have rarely found anything but grit in their stomachs. 

 In 1887 I purchased no fewer than fifteen Spotted Red- 

 shanks at once in Leadenhall Market. Some were young, 

 others old birds moulting into winter plumage. They were 

 bought on the loth of September, when they were not fresh 

 enough to make good skins. In 1889 I bought two out of 

 a bunch of twenty hanging up in Leadenhall. These were 

 asserted to have been killed on the east coast of England, 

 but were too stale to preserve. The local bird which I 

 dissected in 1888 had been feeding on little fishes: its 

 stomach was full of the minute bones of its prey. I have 

 never had any opportunity of searching for the Spotted 

 Redshank in the area of the Scottish Solway ; but it surely 

 ought to be found upon the north side of the Frith ? At 

 the same time, it must be admitted, that there is only one 

 bit of estuary upon the English side of the Solway which 

 appears to be congenial to this interesting species. The 

 late James Smith of Rockliffe was quite as accurate, in 

 identifying the notes and flight of waders, as Mr. Nicol. Yet 

 the former shot over the creeks and foreshore of the upper 

 marshes of the Solway for at least thirty years, without ever 



