THE REDSHANK. 



By B. R. M. 



In my shooting excursions lately, I have not unfrequently met with that very 

 pretty and interesting little bird, the Redshank ( Totanus calidris) ; and as my 

 observations upon it lead me to conclude its habits and manners to be rather dif- 

 ferent from what they are, in general, supposed to be, I send you the result, which 

 may, perhaps, be interesting to some of your readers. I confess I was rather 

 surprised at first to find the Redshank always in very large flocks, as I had al- 

 ways previously considered it and its congeners to be birds of solitary habits ; but 

 I have very seldom seen it in this neighbourhood in flocks of less than a dozen, 

 frequently amounting even to one hundred and fifty, or two hundred ; and the 

 larger the flock the more shy and difficult were the birds of approach. Indeed, 

 even in small flocks, it generally contrives to baffle and elude the attempts of the 

 sportsman ; as it is always on the look out, and takes wing on the least alarm, or 

 the slightest appearance of approaching danger. Towards the beginning of the 

 breeding season, they are, however, rather more accessible ; for they do not fly 

 very far on being disturbed, but generally alight again a few hundred yards off. 

 The breeding season is the only time of the year in which they are not found m 

 flocks ; at this period they leave the shores, and disperse themselves over the 

 country, in places more suitable for incubation. The tide here, on receding, 

 leaves a very large surface of muddy sand exposed ; and this seems to be pecu- 

 liarly favourable to birds of this class, and accordingly it is very much frequented 

 by the Tringoe, Totani, Numenii, and other birds of this family ; for all these 

 obtain their food in the same situations. The Redshank is, I think, most nearly 

 allied, in its habits, to the genus Tringa ; and it has the same kind of dipping 

 motion, when running on the sands, for which the latter is so remarkable. I was 

 very much struck with the curious manner in which they dart their bills into the 

 mud or sand, for the purpose of getting at their food. They seem to bury it in 

 the sand nearly its whole length, by jumping up, and thus giving it a sort of impetus, 

 if I may use the word, by the weight of their bodies pressing it downwards. The 

 bill is about an inch and a half long. The legs are delicate, of a deep orange 

 colour, and long. 



Dublin, May 10th, 1886. 



VOL. I. 



