GREEN-LEGGED LONGSHAXK. 323 



The nest, in fact, resembled those of the Golden Plover,, 

 Lapwing, and Curlew. The eggs, placed with their narrow 

 ends together, were four in number, pyriform, larger than 

 these of the Lapwing, and smaller than those of the Golden 

 Plover, equally pointed with the latter, but proportionately 

 broader and more rounded at the larger end than those of 

 either. The dimensions of one of them, still in my collection, 

 are two inches exactly, by one inch and three-eighths. The 

 ground colour is a very pale yellowish-green, sprinkled all 

 over with irregular spots of dark brown, intermixed with 

 blotches of light purplish-grey, the spots, and especially the 

 blotches, more numerous on the larger end. Although in 

 summer these birds may be seen in many parts of these 

 islands, they are yet very rare, a pair being to be met with 

 only at an interval of several miles. 



These observations made many years ago, I communi- 

 cated to a foreign ornithologist, by whom they were pub- 

 lished in 1835. In the following spring Mr. Selby, in his 

 List of Birds Inhabiting the County of Sutherland, gave the 

 following statement : — " The Grcenshank, whose nest had 

 never before been found in Britain, we detected breeding in 

 various parts of the country, generally in some swampy- 

 marsh, or by the margin of some of its numerous lochs. It 

 is very wild and wary, except when it has tender young, at 

 which time, when first disturbed, it sometimes approaches 

 pretty near, making a rapid stoop, like the Redshank, at the 

 head of the intruder. If fired at and missed, which is fre- 

 quently the case, even by a good marksman, as the stoop is 

 made with remarkable rapidity, it seldom, at least for that 

 day, ventures again within range. A pair which had their 

 nest in a marsh near Tongue, after being once fired at, could 

 not again be approached ; but we obtained one of the young, 

 apparently about a fortnight old, by means of a water-dog. 

 Another pair were shot near Scourie, by the margin of a 

 small loch, where, from their violent outcries and alarm, they 

 evidently had their nest or young, though we were unable to 

 find either." 



In ordinary circumstances, the Greenshank searches the 

 shores, in muddy places, for food, often walking out into the 



