252 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Totanus. 



Sub-family TOTANIN^. 



DUSKY REDSHANK. 



Totanus fuscus {Liimceus). 



(British : Rare spring and autumn coasting migrant ; some, 

 winter.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, latter end of -May, or early 

 in June. 



Breeding area : Northern Palsearctic re.^ion. The 

 Dusky Redshank breeds on the tundras above the hmits 

 of forest growth (but nowhere apparently south of the 

 Arctic Circle unless on the highlands of Turkestan) in 

 Arctic Europe and Asia, from Lapland in the west to 

 the Tchuski Land in the east. 



Breeding habits : The Dusky Redshank begins to 

 cross the Mediterranean in March, and continues to do 

 so until the middle of May, reaching its summer quarters 

 as soon as the ground is clear of snow. Except on 

 migration this bird is not very gregarious, and when 

 nesting is only found in widely scattered pairs. Of the 

 pairing habits of this bird nothing has been recorded ; 

 whilst of its habits during the nesting season generally 

 we possess only the interesting observations made by 

 WoUey in Lapland. He states that the favourite nesting 

 grounds of this species w^ere in the open parts of the 

 forests, not necessarily near water, and especially in 

 places where the trees had been burnt and the vegetation 

 was scanty. He found the nests generall}^ on rising 

 ground, near the tops of hills, in open clearings amongst 

 the pines where the earth was clothed with such plants 

 as heath and reindeer-moss. They were mere hollows 

 in the ground, lined with a few dead " needles " of the 



