SANDPIPERS 179 



of May, in Breydon Harbour, Norfolk ; but although I 

 was in a punt and had a gun with me at the time, I 

 was unable to procure it, owing to a falling tide which 

 prevented me from getting within shot of it. In the 

 winter plumage, I have obtained several at different 

 times in Sussex harbours, as at Pagham, Bosham, 

 and Chichester. Weight, 7 oz. to 8 oz. 



COMMON REDSHANK. Totanus calidris (Linnseus). 

 PI. 20, figs. 6, 7. Length, 11 in. ; bill, 1-6 in. ; wing, 

 6'5 in.; tarsus, 1*75 in. ; bare part of tibia, '9 in. 



Resident and generally distributed, but migratory 

 in spring and autumn. Birds of the year are inter- 

 mediate in colour between the summer and winter 

 plumages of their parents. A ivhite one was shot at 

 Shoreham in the autumn of 1875. 



The Redshank breeds commonly in parts of 

 Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, and East Sussex ; 

 and Commander Gervase Mathew, R.N., noted seve- 

 ral pairs nesting in Chatham Dockyard, on a piece 

 of waste ground between the large basins and the 

 sea-wall {ZooL, 1886, p. 332). Some breed usu- 

 ally in the grassy meadows on the banks of the 

 Medway between Chatham and Sheerness, and I 

 have found their nests in Rye marshes as well as in 

 the old bed of Pagham Harbour, now, alas ! drained 

 and reclaimed. See my article on " Pagham Harbour, 

 Past and Present," Field, July 2 and 16, 1887. 



In Yorkshire the Redshank used to breed on 

 Reccall Common near Selby, on Strensall Common 

 near Beverley, Pilmoor, Thorne Waste, and on Mai- 



