318 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



accidentally flushing the bird. In an East Anglian marsh a bird got 

 up almost at my feet. There was a small flattened tussock of grass 

 with long dead stalks growing up round it, but not a sign of nest or 

 eggs, yet I felt certain that the bird had been incubating. On prob- 

 ing the solid-looking green tussock my fingers slipped into a hollow 

 space beneath, where the four eggs were lying. The bird had been 

 sitting in a neat cup of grass, completely roofed in above, and had 

 slipped out by parting the growing grass at the side, which had closed 

 up again. Exceptionally nests may be found, especially near the 

 coast, quite exposed, but as a rule the bird takes advantage of every 

 bit of cover available. On the level patches of short rich grass in 

 the Dutch polders many pairs breed, and I have seen sixteen nests in a 

 day. Narrow drains only a few inches wide are cut by the farmers 

 in the turf, and here the grass is not cropped quite so close at the 

 sides, so even under these disadvantageous conditions the redshanks 

 avoid the open flats and prefer the partial concealment of the drain 

 sides. In the great mud flats of the Marisma of the Kiver Guadal- 

 quiver in South Spain, too, there is little in the way of cover, but 

 the nests are never so exposed as those of the stilt or avocet. But 

 wherever found, whether in Iceland, Holland, or Spain, there are the 

 excited parents flying round and round with incessant and clamorous 

 cries of tu-e-too, tu-e-too, alarming all the other breeding species and 

 generally the first to give warning of danger. 



The nest is substantially made of grasses and hollowed out by the 

 pressure of the bird's breast and little in the way of extraneous 

 matter is used, though occasionally, especially in open sites, quite a 

 substantial cup may be built of stalks, grasses, bits of heath, moss, etc. 



Eggs. — Normally four, rarely five, but in second or third layings 

 three are not uncommon, and cases of six, seven, and eight eggs in a 

 nest have been recorded, probably due to two hens laying together, 

 though in some instances they may be due to a full clutch being 

 laid after an interruption by snow or floods. The eggs are pyriform 

 in shape and when large series are examined, show considerable 

 variation, the ground color ranging from creamy white, stone color, 

 to pale greenish gray or light purplish red and warm reddish 

 ochreous. They are freely blotched and spotted with purple brown 

 or rich red brown and ashy shell marks; sometimes a dark hair 

 streak at the big end. In some eggs the blotches are very large, but 

 others are more uniformly marked with small spots. In a series 

 they show much richer and redder coloring than Vanellus, Himan- 

 topus, or Recurvirostra, and lack the distinctive green ground of 

 Tringa erythropus. The measurements of 36 eggs from Iceland 

 average 45.39 by 31.75 millimeters; the eggs showing the four ex- 

 tremes measure 49 by 32.4, 46.5 by 33.1, 42.3 by 31.3, and 43.7 by 30.5 

 millimeters. The measurements of 100 British eggs average 44.56 by 



