EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 141 



THE DUSKY REDSHANK. 



(Totanus fuscus.) 

 Plate 44, Figs. 7, 9. 



The Dusky, or Spotted, Redshank is a somewhat rare visitor to 

 the British Islands on spring and autumn migration, occurring 

 most often at the latter season. It is not known with certainty 

 to breed anywhere south of the Arctic circle, but on the tundra 

 above the limit of forest-growth it nests from Lapland to Bering 

 Straits, though nowhere very abundantly. 



Wolley states that the nests found by him in Lapland were a 

 slight depression in the ground, which was covered with short 

 heath and other small plants growing amongst reindeer moss; 

 they were lined only with a few dead spines of the Scotch fir. 



The eggs of the Dusky Redshank are four in number, but are 

 laid late in May or during the first half of June, sometimes later, 

 according to season ; they are very handsome, and vary in ground- 

 colour from pale green to pale brown, heavily blotched and 

 spotted with rich sepia-brown, and with underlying markings of 

 violet-grey and brownish -grey. On many eggs a few very dark 

 brown hair-like lines and scratches occur on the large end. Some 

 eggs are so richly marked as to hide almost all of the large end ; 

 others are more evenly spotted over the entire surface. The 

 markings are generally bold and very clearly defined. The eggs 

 are pyriform in shape, and vary in length from 195 to 18 inch, 

 and in breadth from 135 to 125 inch. 



THE GREENSHANK. 



(Totanus glottis.)* 



Plate 41, Figs. 7, 9. 

 The breeding places of the Greenshank in Scotland are local, 

 and chiefly situated in the Highlands and in the Hebrides ; but it 

 nests as far south as the counties of Perth and Argyle. The 

 geographical distribution of the Greenshank very closely resembles 

 that of the Dusky Redshank ; but in the west its breeding range 

 extends further south, and in the east not nearly so far north. 



* Totanus cawcens (Gm.)- Saunders, Manual, p. 605. Glottis ncbulavius (Gunn.) 

 — Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 280. 



