REDSHANK. 269 



Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Totanus. 



Subfamily TOTANINAL. 



REDSHANK. 



Totanus calidris (^Linnmis). 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, April and May. 



British breeding area : The Redshank is generally 

 though locally distributed over most of the marshy 

 districts of the British Islands, becoming most common 

 in the eastern counties of England, and even abundant 

 in many parts of Scotland, extending to the Orkneys 

 and the Shetlands, and sparingly to the Outer Hebrides. 

 It is also fairly well distributed over the marshy tracts 

 of Ireland during summer. 



Breeding habits : The Redshank is a resident in 

 the British Islands, but subject to considerable local and 

 southern movement during the non-breeding season. 

 Its haunts also vary a good deal according to season, 

 littoral districts being preferred during winter, but the 

 breeding-grounds are more or less inland. Early in 

 spring a movement is made to the nesting-places, which 

 are usually swampy moors, fen and marsh lands, and 

 the boggy shores of mountain lochs. The Redshank is 

 more or less gregarious during the breeding season, and 

 numbers of nests may frequently be found within a 

 small radius of suitable ground. It is probable that this 

 bird pairs for life, as yearly certain haunts will be 

 frequented, and it is also much attached to a favourite 

 site, and has been known to visit it season by season 

 after the district had quite changed in character. 

 During the mating season the male bird is often to be 

 seen trilling high in air, alighting in trees, and displaying 

 its graces in various amatory ways. The nest, if slight, 



