SPOTTED REDSHANK 413 



a different direction. At length, having come to a stand- 

 still in my uncertainty, I happened to cast my eyes on 

 the gromid at my feet, and immediately discovered my 

 little ventriloquist perched on the top of the long stalk 

 of a marsh plant. I thought at first that my hearing the 

 chirp in so many directions was caused by a number 

 of these young birds, but after capturing the above 

 mentioned the note entirely ceased. About the end of 

 July Eedshanks begin to flock, and at the same time 

 become wild and difficult to approach. Their flight when 

 in full speed is amazingly swift, and a large flock of them 

 affords a very pretty sight dashing along a creek, first 

 wheeling in one direction, then in another, uttering their 

 cry incessantly all the while." 



The nest is of very slight structure, formed of grass 

 and bits of rash : it is placed in a tuft of grass or rashes. 

 The eggs are foar in number. 



SPOTTED EEDSHANK. 



Totanus fiiscus (Linnaeus). S.N., i., p. 243 (1760). 



This species is an occasional spring and autumn 

 visitor to Kent, but it is far from being plentiful, 

 although many of them no doubt are mistaken for the 

 ordinary Redshanks when in winter plumage. 



The Eev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, writing in 1844, says it 

 is " to be met with occasionally in spring and autumn in 

 Eomney Marsh." Mr. J. Gould writes that the gunners 

 of the Lower Thames and Medway often meet solitary 

 individuals in the months of August and September. 

 There is an immature male in the British Museum ob- 

 tained at New Eomney, on September 22, by Colonel 

 Irby. 



